High heels are fashionable and they can make a woman who is unhappy with her short stature feel tall and confident. However, while heels can certainly be a great accessory to an outfit, wearing them every day can cause more harm than good.

These shoes can do excessive damage to the foot, as well as the ankle and the back. In fact, high heels are the cause of ankle, foot and back problems for millions of people around the world.

If you’re a fanatic of wearing high heels, you’re going to want to continue reading to learn the damaging effects that your shoe obsession can cause.

The High Cost of High Heels

Your favorite pair of Manolo Blahnik may have cost you a pretty penny, but they’ll cost you way more in the damages that they will do to your feet, ankles and back if you wear them too much. Here’s a look at some of the ways that wearing heels every day can cause you more harm than good.

• Severe Joint Pain. When worn excessively, high heels can lead to serious pain in your joints, including your ankles, your knees and even your hips. Why? Because heels don’t provide any real shock absorption, which means that your joints will end up absorbing all of the shock you experience with every step you take. Additionally, high heels prevent your feet from rotating when you walk because they are forced to walk straight. When your feet can’t bend, your joints have to absorb the strain that is put on your body when you walk.
• Pain in the Lower Back. Do you ever notice that your lower back aches after you’ve spent a day wearing heels? Have you ever wondered why? It’s because heels make your pelvis push forward, which puts a ton of pressure onto your lower back. The result? Pain.
• Pain in the Achilles Tendon. Wearing heels for an excessive period of time can actually lead to a shortened Achilles tendon. This happens because when your feet are constantly in that lifted position, a physiological change can occur in the muscles, as well as the tendons. The result of this is excessive pain when walking flat footed.
• Sprained Ankles. Women who wear heels are more likely to suffer from ankle sprains than women who wear flats. Heels cause an uneven distribution of weight between the ball of your foot and your ankle. This can make walking more unsteady and can cause your foot to roll out, thus causing a sprained ankle.
• Ingrown Toenails. There is nothing cute about an ingrown toenail, and heels can definitely cause more of these. Since heels put pressure on your big and little toes, hey cause them to bend into the nail bed, thus causing the development of ingrown toenails. These toenails are seriously not cute and they can be seriously painful.

Given these issues, you may want to rethink wearing those heels every day and consider wearing flats more often. Your feet, ankles and back will thank you.

Sources:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/high-heels
http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/womens-health/Pages/high-heels.aspx
http://www.moneycrashers.com/dangers-wearing-high-heels-tips/