Many people have ready answers for everything. Including picking the right heels. But still the world is full with women who experience pain and discomfort when wearing high heels.
The end result should be a little different if those advices are coming directly from a specialist. Angela Davis, BSc (Hons), DPodM, MChS is a podiatrist from Montego Bay and is a member of the Health and Care Professions Council in the United Kingdom. So she knows what she’s talking about.
Recently Angela gave The Jamaica Observer her tips on how to pick the right high heels. Those are things that you should look for when buying high heels.
For example note the toe box. It has to be deep enough to accomodate your toes without pressing them on top in any way. Angela says a stretchy material or leather is the way to go.
Then comes the lenght of the entire shoe. You need to get this just right so you have enough room for your feet but the shoe won’t fall off. So Davis recommends having a quarter inch between the ends is a must. For example, if you can feel the end of the shoe with your toes when you’re standing up, you need to go with a bigger size.
Width is often underestimated. You need your shoe to be wide enough so not to squish your feed. So you need to have a snug fit but in no way feel pressure coming from the sides of the shoe.
Davis also recommends going for shoes with thicker soles or softer insoles. These will give greater comfort when walking on rougher surfaces.
“A shoe needs to hold on to you, not you to it”, says Angela. What she means is that you need to feel the heels like a part of your leg, not like something you’re stepping on. So you need to have them properly fastened to your feet. The best way to do that is with straps or laces. Slip-on shoes tend to put more pressure on the toes than ones with straps or laces. Boots are exempt because they grasp a lot more of the leg, making them better fastened.
And the age old question – how high should the heel be. It is very tempting to go with sky highs from the very beggining. Keep in mind that high heels shift the body weight to the toes, so the higher the heels, the more weight goes on the toes. “However, if you have worn high heels for a long time, the calf muscles can shorten so you can’t walk without them comfortably. If you suddenly change to flats you can seriously injure your feet”, says Davis.
So it’s best to slowly increas the height as you get experience. Also keep doing slight exercises to keep your muscles in good shape.
All of this sounds familiar? Good, it measn you have been reading our other tips on how to walki in heels, then walk gracefully and through obstacles. Also you know how to run in heels, how to fit them properly, how to break them in and how to exercise.
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