Being a man I can safely say that I have not personally experienced the pain and discomfort that looking good can cause when it comes to the stiletto. Walking for relatively long distances and even standing for long periods in this type of shoe can cause pain in the foot. This is the downside of the stiletto; however it is not what we are looking at today. Today we are going to be looking at the problems the stiletto can cause on your muscles, what this can lead to and finally what can be done to keep these problems at bay.

The problems

The stiletto causes a few problems with muscles both directly and indirectly. The direct muscle affected is the calf muscle (below the knee at the back of your leg – Beeble) the indirect muscles affected can be almost any main muscle in the body due to the way the muscles link together over joints to cause a chain reaction.

The calf muscle, when wearing the stiletto, is in a very contracted state and the higher the heel the more contracted it becomes. Any muscle kept in a shortened or contracted state is far more likely to become permanently shorten. Muscles are very adaptable and will always adapt to outside influences whether they are good or bad. The more often and the longer you wear this type of heel the worse off you are going to be.

A shortened calf muscle

Whilst you are looking good wearing the stilettos, your calf muscles are getting shorter and whilst you may not notice too much when you are wearing your shoes when you remove them you could be an accident waiting to happen. When you come to stand with your feet flat on the floor your calf muscles have to lengthen. However if they are particularly tight then they may not be able to lengthen enough and you could tear the muscle or damage your Achilles’ heel tendon. This directly attaches to your calf muscle and when the muscle has to lengthen suddenly if the muscle can’t give, then something else will have to.

Having tight calf muscles can lead to further problems. The calf muscle creates the movement to go onto tip toe, it also helps you to bend the knee joint. The tight muscle can cause knee and ankle problems which in turn can lead to hamstring problems. This puts a lot of strain on supporting muscles and finally all this can lead to back problems. These injuries take a lot of time to take effect and you will have been wearing high heals for a long time for long periods, in fact some of you are probably already suffering from these problems and are not even aware of what is causing it.

Symptoms

Tight calf muscles will hurt or ache when you take your stilettos off, walking up hill in flat shoes or heals can be very painful. Running or jogging can cause pain in your calf muscles and even in your shins. The pain in the shins (also known as shin splints – Beeble) is actually happening in a muscle called the tibialis anterior which is the opposing muscle to your calf muscle. Its job is to raise your toes and foot upwards and this is used every time you walk. When walking and placing your foot down it is also used to slow the speed that the foot goes down when the heel has been placed on the ground. If this is being affected by your shoes, then when walking and especially running you will probably slap your feet down. As you calf muscle is very tight it puts immense pressure on your tibialis anterior by constantly pulling the foot in the opposite direction which results in a tug of war fight between the two.

When sitting for long periods you can find it hard to stand up properly, initially and standing for long periods can cause an ache in your lower back. The symptoms can almost be endless but you can’t suffer from the back problems without having calf muscle and shin problems. If you do have a back problem but no lower leg issues then the cause is unlikely to be caused by your stilettos.

What you can do

The secret should be no surprise …. stretch stretch and more stretching. When any muscle is kept in a shortened position the only immediate cure is stretching. You have to counteract the actions of the stiletto, stretching is the stilettos’ “kryptonite”. There are a few ways of stretching the calf muscle. You have to lengthen the calf muscle and my favourite for this one is to stand on a step with some hand rail or other support and let your heels hang off the end of the lowest step. Ever so slowly let your heels drop below the level of your feet keeping your legs straight. The stretch should be a pull in the calf muscle but not cause you any pain. Hold the stretch for 1 minute and repeat as many times as you can throughout the day but at least 3 times.

When you are sitting down, if it is appropriate, then remove your stilettos as when you are seated and wearing your shoes it will cause more problems to your muscles than any other situations. So remove the heels as often as you can throughout the day to give your calves a rest. When seated and with shoes removed you can stretch them by reaching your legs out straight and bringing your toes up. This is not as effective as the stretch on the step, but it is a good habit to get into to help your calves remain flexible.

Be careful…

As these symptoms are not exclusive to the stiletto dilemma it is important that even if all the signs point to this that you get it checked with your doctor. Self analysis is not the best way to fix yourself and it is always safest to get a professional to see you and give you a proper examination. However in the mean time stretching will not do you any harm.

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Tags: calf muscle, discomfort, Exercise, leg pain, muscle tightness, stilettos, Stretching

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Injuries, Stretching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.