Here Are All The Ways Wearing High Heels Messes With Your Body

Unsplash/Robert Metz

Every woman knows just how powerful a good pair of high heels can make her feel. They lean out your legs, give your booty the perfect little lift and serve as the final touch to a commanding outfit. Plus, they have a distinctive way of boosting self-confidence. But with all of these benefits come some pretty serious drawbacks. At the end of the day, your favorite pair of pumps is probably doing your body more physiological harm than good.

Your Feet

When you wear heels, your feet adjust to walking as if they’re going down a ramp constantly. This puts excess pressure on the ball of the foot, and that pressure increases for every inch you add to that heel spike. The sloping of the sole matters, too — the steeper the grade, the worse off you’ll be. Wearing high heels frequently can lead to hammer toes, which is when the toes permanently bend downward, bunions, which is when a swollen, bone-like bump forms on the outside of your big toe, and even ingrown toenails.

Unsplash/Brooke Cagle

Your Legs

Let’s start with the ankles. A study from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte found that while wearing high heels initially strengthens the muscles around the ankles, the opposite reaction begins to occur over time. And when this decrease in muscle contraction happens, you end up far more susceptible to injury.

Because high heels reposition your feet in a way that lengthens the front of the leg and shortens the back of the leg, you can end up with bulging calves and super tight hamstrings if you rock your favorite pumps often. The shortening of muscles and hardening of tendons dramatically worsen your flexibility and make it much easier to rip or tear something you shouldn’t. Heels also end up putting extra stress on the knee joints, which is never an ideal scenario.

Your Back

All of those shifts in your feet and legs keep working their way up to the rest of your body where your spine holds everything in alignment. As you put more pressure on the front of your feet and shift your weight forward, you ultimately push your lower back forward as well to maintain balance. This lower back positioning overworks those muscles, compresses the vertebrae, sends the hips and spine out of alignment and causes an uncomfortable pain sensation over time. This misalignment of the lumbar spine can cause unwanted shifts higher up as well, often leading to shoulder and neck pain.

Basically, heels change everything about your body’s natural alignment from head to toe, and your body definitely doesn’t like it. So if you want to rock a pair of stilettos from time to time, go for it. Just be aware that your body is going to be pretty pissed off and request flatter, more supportive shoes for a few days after your big night out.