5 Tips to Decrease Back Pain Caused by Wearing High Heels
Cindy Molina, PT, MSPT, CMPT | May 16, 2019
How Wearing High Heels Affects Your Body
Wearing high heels throws your body out of alignment by shifting your center of gravity forward. This causes excess arching of your low back to counter the forward force placed on your body. This poor alignment puts extra stress on your discs and joints, causing muscle spasms in the back and legs, as well as tightening and shortening of your calf and hamstring muscles in addition to foot and knee pain.
Prolonged arching of your back can lead to two lumbar conditions: spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis. Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the boney opening for the nerves. This can lead to pinching of the nerve which can cause shooting pain, weakness, numbness and tingling in the back, buttocks, legs or feet.
Spondylolisthesis occurs when one bone moves forward or back too much on the adjacent bone. Excess arching of your back contributes to this position. Symptoms of spondylolisthesis can be similar to stenosis.
If you must wear heels:
- Wear for short periods of time. Wear heels to the wedding and switch into something comfortable for the reception.
- Stretch your leg muscles before and after wearing heels to decrease muscle strain and tightness.
- Avoid heels higher than 2 inches. The higher the heel the more stress placed on your body.
- Wear good quality leather shoes to prevent forward slippage of your foot in the shoe.
- Don’t wear a shoe with a pointed toe. This will increase foot pain as well as low back pain.
If you haven’t received my free ebook on back pain for more helpful information for your back, click on the link, below, to get your free copy.