Wide heels bad for your knees
Agencies, Washington
New research has shown that chunky heels are just as bad for the knees as spindly stilettos. Women who want to add height and walk comfortably opt for wide heels.
Because these more comfortable shoes can be tolerated for longer than stilettos, they are just as likely to cause knee arthritis, scientists reported in The Lancet medical journal recently.
"It takes a long time to feel the effects of knee osteo- arthritis -- and once you do, it's too late," said Dr Casey Kerrigan.
Dr Kerrigan is a lead researcher of the study and associate professor at Harvard Medical School's department of physical medicine and rehabilitation.
"I liken it to smoking -- one cigarette is not painful, but over a lifetime it is. Wide-heeled shoes feel comfortable, so women wear them all day long," Kerrigan said.
"They are better for your feet than stiletto heels, but just as bad for your knees," she said.
In the study, researchers asked 20 women to wear two pairs of shoes with 7.6 cm-heels, one pair with a narrow heel and the other with a thick one.
The scientists compared how much pressure was put on the women's knees by both types of shoe.
The women also walked barefoot to provide a reading of normal pressure.
The scientists found that both types of shoe applied equal amounts of pressure to the knees.
Compared with going barefoot, the heels increased pressure on the inside of the knee by 26 per cent.
Increased pressure on the knee eventually leads to arthritis, experts say.
The idea that high heels are bad for your health is not new.
Scientists have warned women for years that these shoes contribute to a range of problems, including: corns and calluses, hammer toes, tendinitis, knee pain, sprained ankles and back problems.
"This article confirms what we all intuitively knew -- that high-heeled shoes of any kind are not good for our health," said Dr Glenn Pfeffer, who is a San Francisco orthopedic surgeon and member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
"Clearly this is a red flag saying, 'don't fool yourself into thinking that because you are wearing a wider heel you won't have any problems'," Dr Pfeffer said.
Separately, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Wednesday that it had ordered the recall of a girls' shoe, along with four other children's products, currently being sold in the American market.
According to CNN.com, the buckle on the Munchkin T-Strap girls shoes, manufactured by Stride Rite Children's Group of Lexington, Massachusetts, can break and the small part can lodge in a child's throat.
The shoes, sold in sizes 4 through 12 in several colors, were sold since January this year for about $25 per pair.