Slaying in Stilettos, Worth the Back Pain or Nah?

Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but the stilettos are sure her best weapon. No true fashion-conscious young woman will not have at least one pair of heels in her shoe collection, but there are classes.  As much as every female might love to, rocking a stiletto is a real art; one that leaves many envious stares behind.

Slim young woman, rocking stilettos
Slay or Pass? How far is too far to look pretty ?

As pretty as heels come, and none is prettier than the classy stilettos, they sure have an enduring negative mark in feminine health. A lot of health personnel have warned over and over again about the evils of pencil-thin stilettos.

Stilettos and Your Spine

The average stiletto is about 3 and a half inches. The 4 inches of pointed perfection is definitely the best finishing for the perfect night. Unfortunately, the beauty of the heels is at the expense of the woman’s comfort and health.

The pressure from those pencil points affects the hips, knees, and spine. When a woman balances on those heels, her body compensates for the weird fit of her soles by bending the knees and in retrospect the spine. This is what causes the protruding hips and sexy tilt of the body when on heels.

Female Human spine
Are you hurting your spine?

This complementary shift in form affects the spine and the major joints. Thereby creating muscles fatigue from the continued tension of these parts. Prolonged continuous use of stilettos will eventually cause bunching of calf muscles. Bigger calves and cramps are symptoms of a lady who can carry her heels.

ALSO READ: BACK PAIN IN WOMEN AND HOW TO HANDLE IT

Other Aspects Of The Body on Stilettos

Here is a quick analysis of how heels affect various pressure points:

The chest is protruded, head held high or pushed forward to compensate for this position.

The lower back and abdomen gets pushed forward too in the same direction as the chest is pushed. The soft ‘S’ curve of the spine is sharply distorted by the protrusions of upper and lower back.

The Knee gets some excess pressure transferred to it from the lower back.

The feet: The balls of the feet get most of the weight of the body as opposed to an even distribution from the balls along the foot to the sole. A downward pressure works on the sole straight down the pencil points.

Spine: The S shape of the spine acts as a shock absorber that reduces stresses on the vertebrae. The heels flatten the Lumbar and displacement of the thoracic spine and the head. Also, the forward shift of the body is often countered in such a way that it causes poor muscle alignment.

Posture: an insane amount of pressure and weight is put on the forefoot which makes the lower body bend slightly forward, a move compensated with a slight backward tilt of the upper body.

Long-term effects

Putting your body through these stresses on a daily basis, for years on end will lead to some anatomical alterations. The back and the knees suffer from undue stress, and chances of a disc slip in the lumbar region of the spine are increased. Spasms, cramps, shooting back pains, tingling and numbness can be felt from the hip joint through the buttocks and legs. These are signs of foraminal stenosis a spinal nerve condition that is due to abnormalities in the body structure. There may also be issues from compression of the Sciatic Nerves which will affect the lower body.

But guess what, if you think block heels were better, then you might need to change that though. In as much as full heeled shoes might be easier to adjust to than thin heels, their effects on the body is similar. According to new research, the stress from block heels is equal to, if not slightly higher than, that of stilettos.

Platform heels
Comfier or more trouble?

This phenomenon, coupled with the anatomical strain of childbirth is sometimes responsible for a predominance of knee and joint problems in women.

So, as you slay in your heels down the aisle at church, or from one board meeting to the other, remember to rake a break. But what do you think? Are these health issues enough to get rid of the sheer pleasures of a beautiful woman in pretty stilettos? Or we could just slay around these things?

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