Do Those High Heels Really Mean Future Pain?

Regardless of the fashion magazines inclusion of spiky, strapped heels to totter in, perhaps symbolically slowing you down in the race to keep your job (what is that guy wearing again?), the height of heels increase and the word 'ouch' comes to mind. Take it from someone who now has a titanium plate and screw in her right foot.

Here's an abstract from the journal Arthritis Care and Research:

Foot pain: Is current or past shoewear a factor?

Abstract

Objective

Foot pain is common, yet few studies have examined the condition in relationship to shoewear. In this cross-sectional study of men and women from the population-based Framingham Study, the association between foot pain and type of shoewear was examined.

Methods

Data were collected on 3,378 members of the Framingham Study who completed the foot examination in 2002-2008. Foot pain (both generalized and at specific locations) was measured by the response to the question On most days, do you have pain, aching or stiffness in either foot? Shoewear was recorded for the present time and 5 past age categories, by the subject's choice of the appropriate shoe from a list. The responses were categorized into 3 groups (good, average, or poor shoes). Sex-specific multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the effect of shoewear (average shoes were the referent group) on generalized and location-specific foot pain, adjusting for age and weight.

Results

In women, compared with average shoes, those who wore good shoes in the past were 67% less likely to report hindfoot pain, after adjusting for age and weight. In men, there was no association between foot pain, at any location, and shoewear, possibly due to the fact that 2% wore bad shoe types, making it difficult to see any relationship.

Conclusion

Even after taking age and weight into account, past shoewear use in women remained associated with hindfoot pain. Future studies should address specific support and structural features of shoewear.

Here's a paragraph from the Introduction to the Full Text:

Many podiatric clinicians note that foot problems are common in older persons, yet very little epidemiologic information exists on foot pain, especially related to shoewear in older persons. National data reveal that foot and toe symptoms are among the top 20 reasons for physician office visits among patients ages 65-74 years. Prior research indicates that not enough attention has been given to foot pain and other foot disorders since historically these factors have not been regarded as important health risks. Women are more likely to have foot pain than men but it is unknown whether this is due to a higher prevalence of foot deformities, underlying disease, shoewear, or other lifestyle choices.

Do Those High Heels Really Mean Future Pain?

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