Heels V.S. Pain: How to Save My Back?
Ladies love heels as they represent beauty, sexiness and feminine. However, beauty sometimes means pain too! Your feet and legs will be sore and your back maybe even hurts too right? This is because high heels are an extremely common cause of back pain. Let’s find out how it affects our body and how to comfy them.
What happen while wearing heels?
When we are wearing flat shoes (with good sole support), our weight is evenly distributed through the feet. However, while are wearing heels they alter your body’s biomechanics.
It makes you lean forward with lower half of your body and lean back with the upper half to stay balanced. As a result, the extra pressure on the balls of your feet and knees affects your calf muscle tension, the stride length, walking speed, and gait.
Nevertheless, the hips and spine are moving out of alignment which can cause extra load on the spine, muscle overuse, back strain or even pain over time. Hence, the more years you wear it regularly, the more likely you will expose to the above pain!
How to save my back from wearing heels?
Well, the most obvious solution to prevent the pain is STOP wearing it! But if you don’t feel like to ditch the heels (because of your work or you just can’t live without them), below are some tips you should practise!
1.Choose the round-toed heels rather than ones with pointy toes. The latter can compress and deform the natural shape of the toes.
2. Alternate wearing heels with wearing flats to reduce the amount of time you spend wearing it.
3. Don’t wear heels higher than 2 inches, the higher the heels, the more pressure on the ball of the foot.
4. Make sure your heels fit properly and don’t restrict or cause you to slip and slide inside the shoe.
What exercises can I do?
- Bridging
Start lying face up on the floor. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor.
Lift your hips so that you form a straight line from your knees to your chest.
Squeeze your butt for one second, then return to the starting position.
Do three sets of 30 reps.
2. Calf stretch
Stand at arm’s length facing a wall.
Step forward with your right foot; keep both feet flat on the floor.
Place your hands on the wall at chest-height.
Press your right knee toward the wall so you feel a stretch in your left calf.
Hold 30 seconds, then release the stretch. Do 3 reps per leg.
3. Foot roll
Grab a small and hard ball, such as a tennis or golf ball.
Place the ball under your foot.
Roll the ball up and down your foot, focusing on the arch.
Control the intensity by shifting your weight.
Roll for 1 – 2 minutes per foot.
If you have any above issue, feel free to reach us! Check out our instagram page for useful exercises and updates.