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Cosmetic Foot Surgery - Stiletto Platforms to Work: The Price We Pay to Wear High Heels

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 14:45
Submitted by Carlin Ross

When I read that women are having cosmetic surgery on their feet so they can wear this season's must-have high heels, I cringed.  And I wear high heels.  But the thought of shortening my toes so they don't crunch up, injecting fat into the ball of my foot so I can stand in heels for hours, or removing my pinky toe for a sleeker foot line is just so barbaric.

I read somewhere that buying shoes stimulates the same area in your brain as clit play.  That would justify women's irrational attraction to high heels.  We are living in a culture where height and lean proportions are the most prized.  Put on a pair of heels and you instantly feel slimmer...more powerful. I get it.  But at some point we have to love our bodies more than the image of beauty our culture expects us to conform to and perpetuate.

And this season is the worst high heel season ever.  The whole stiletto-platform look you see women wearing to the office just amazes me.  The stiletto-platform is a fetish shoe that you wear ONLY in the bedroom.  You don't walk the city streets teetering around - risking imminent fracture - in shoes meant for play.  If I was still practicing law and saw my opponent walk into court in those shoes, I'd assess it as insecurity and go to town.

So I did some research to find out if high heels are "bad" for you.  Guess what?  They are.  Researchers have found that wearing high heels shrinks your calf muscles.  Scans of the calf muscles in a group of frequent heel wearers found
muscle fibres were, on average, 13% shorter than in those who avoided
high heels.

What does that mean?  It means that if you frequently wear high heels you won't be able to wear flats and when you take off your heels you won't be able to walk with your feet flat on the floor.  And I've seen this first hand.  My grandmother used to clean her house in wedge heels.  One day I asked her why - she said that she couldn't physically wear flats.  When she walked around the house, she walked up on her toes.  She wore high heels to the point that her calf muscles shrank and she was in a perpetual high-heel flex.

I wear high heels to photo shoots...3 hour dinners...and weddings.  Betty has helped me realize that wearing high heels every day isn't safe or healthy.  I've learned to accept my body in it's pure form: barefoot, no bra, no make-up and I love me.  I don't need an extra 4 inches to make me beautiful.

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I am in no way advocating

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 15:56
Heather J (not verified)

I am in no way advocating the wearing of super high heels. However, if one chooses to wear them, they should be treating the wearing of high heels like playing a sport or anything else that is physically taxing on the body. Not only does wearing high heels shorten the calf muscles but it can also cause plantar fasciitis (it can be remedied by rolling a tennis ball or cold pop can under foot and stretching out/loosening up the plantar fascia. As a massage therapist, I know firsthand that the calf muscles are not permanently shortened if precautions are taken. Stretch your legs before and after wearing heels (google "gastroc stretches"). Go see your massage therapist and let them know you regularly wear high heels. They can work that area, helping to loosen the muscles and allow them to stretch out. Working the fascia is also very helpful. With that said, wear some flats, some kitten heels, your tennis shoes also. High heels cause lots of physical problems. Wear them in moderation.

definitely barefoot is the

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 03:25
jexhibitionism

definitely barefoot is the way to go, I totally love how the barefoot movement is growing more mainstream. there are barefoot shoes too, and not just those strange looking vibram five finger ones, Vevo makes some totally adorable 'barefoot' flats and sneakers.

myself, I'm a chucks girl all the way, 99% of the time I'm in canvas sneakers no matter what the occasion. (: and I think being cute and comfortable is sexy as hell

blog: http://jexhibitionism.com/

email: jexhibee@gmail.com

I usually just wear flats.

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 04:15
corvusmachina

I usually just wear flats. I've nearly worn my favorite pair (black sequined Rocket Dogs) ragged so I need to find some more.

I have a few pairs of heels, but they're strictly "special occasion only" shoes. One pair is actually quite comfortable- a pair of Tripp NYC ankle boots that are also platforms that make me about six and a half feet tall when I wear them- but the rest, I can't wear for more than half an hour standing up. It KILLS my back. I made the mistake of wearing a pair of short kitten heels to the first hair show I ever went to, and I was nearly in tears after just a couple of hours. Why I thought wearing a brand-new pair of heels to something I'd be walking around in was a good idea, I'll never know. So I had to go buy a pair of shoes at the store down the road from my hotel because all I had left was a pair of trainers.

The moral of the story? Don't wear heels for long stretches of time unless you're used to it. Or at all.

Like Cinderella

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 18:21
Paviel

This might sound completely out of left field, but this article reminds me of one version of the Cinderella story that I read when I was young, in which some of the women who tried on the glass slipper said or at least thought about altering their feet so that they could wear the slipper.

I think that some fairy tales do our girls a huge disservice, although my opinion as a man might not carry as much weight as a woman's in this regard. I can easily see girls reading or listening to the Cinderella story day after day and thinking that they need to be able to wear a specific, rigid shoe in order to get the prince. Or that it's always a good thing to get the prince.

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