Tips to relieve high heel pain & discomfort Part 2
Hello! Has everyone finished their holiday shopping yet? Not me, and there are only 6 more shopping days left. I hate waiting until the last minute, but somehow I seem to do it every year. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. Nevertheless as promised in my last post, here is the conclusion to my list of issues associated with wearing high heels and things you can do to help.
4. Stretching of the calf muscle is very important, but not done by over 90% of the people who wear high heels day to day. When a high heel shoe is worn your calf muscle is shortened. Over time this muscle will become weak and relaxed. Many people have stated that from wearing high heels everyday that wearing flats or tennis shoes are not comfortable and hurt the backs of their legs and sometimes cause their feet and legs to cramp. Now most of you reading this can remember or have seen babies and have seen how flexible they are. Some of you can remember being able to touch your head to your knee but find it impossible to do now as the muscles in your legs are no longer stretched and have grown to the position they are from your day to day habits. This is the same with high heels. If you do not keep the calf muscle stretched it will shorten over time and make wearing flats or even walking barefoot uncomfortable. A simple way to prevent this is to find a board or some solid and prop it up on something like a thick phone book creating a small ramp. The angle can be anywhere from a 30 degree angle to a 45 degree angle. Make sure if you prop something on a book that the book or object cannot slide or move. We recommend putting it against a wall. Now once you have little ramp, stand facing it putting your foot on the ramp while keeping your heel on the floor off the ramp. Now slowly lean forward until you feel it pulling on your calf muscle. Doing this simple exercise will help in keeping the calf muscle stretched and also help in preventing any prolonged damage to the calf muscle.
5. As always we recommend a heel that has ankle support of some sort, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of walking or dancing. This is also more important when it comes to a higher heel vs a lower heel. Higher heels tend to be more unstable and a person can very easily twist their ankle or fall if their heel slides off to one side of the shoe. An ankle strap or some sort of ankle support can greatly reduce this.
We hope you take the time to read these simple tips and maybe put a few of them to use. In doing so you can help in making the holidays as pain free as possible and also help prevent yourself from twisting your ankle or hurting your back. Being laid up is no way to spend the holidays.
Tags: High heel tips
