Love Manolo, Jimmy Choos Etc.: Happy Feet Effect?
Article by: Dr Zoe Arugay

Now here's another reason to justify Victoria Beckham's preference to continue wearing Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos.

Victoria Beckham's
high-heels
 

The latest findings show that women who habitually wear high heels thickens and tightens the Achilles' tendon, that part located at the back of your ankles, and shortens the muscle fibers in the calf area. Because of these, the tendon stretches and would cause pain when you shift to flats. 


This study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. In it, the researchers aimed to determine what causes that feeling of tautness that women sense in the backs of their ankles after wearing high heels for long periods of time. They focused on 11 women who were regular high-heel wearers, and a control group of nine women whose footwear consisted of flats.


MRI was then employed to measure these women's calf muscles, but there were no differences noted. 


Marco Narici of Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, one of the study authors, explained this further. "We were expecting slightly smaller muscle volumes in the high-heel wearers because we thought that if the muscle is in a shortened position then you are loading it less and the muscle volume should be smaller."


Instead, ultrasound tests revealed that the muscle fiber length in the high-heel wearers was 13% shorter than in the control group. Meanwhile, MRI scans demonstrated that the Achilles' tendons in the high-heel-wearing women were thicker and stiffer than in the flats wearers. That may have compensated for the shortened muscle fibers while allowing calf muscles to function at their best while walking. Yet this thickening also caused some pain when the women changed from those killer heels to walking on flats.


Narici adds, “If you wear high heels for two years or more, five times a week, muscle fibers will become shorter and tendons will thicken and stiffen...This has an immediate effect in restricting ankle movement and impacts your ability to walk fast and run — both in heels and flats.”


Narici said he would recommend women wear heels and flats on alternate days, but said he found most women who wear heels prefer to wear them at least five days a week. 


At least he never said that we should give up on Jimmy Choos, but stretching exercises would do wonders to prevent aches.

Photo Gallery:

Victoria Beckham wearing high heels
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