High heel horrors

As long as there have been high heels, there have been physicians wagging their head and saying that no good would come of this extravagant podiatric adornment. High heel wearers, blushing with all of the attention that research confirms is brought by the totter-inducing footwear, scoff at the well-meaning concern. A new study, however, suggests the concern is well founded.

High heels have been around for a long while. They probably found their origins in the wooden platform shoes favoured by Venetian prostitutes in the 15th century, known as “chopines”. These shoes reached heights of up to 45 centimetres and raised a woman above her rivals, giving her a sensuous gait for prospective clients. Eventually chopines became popular among the aristocracy, both in Italy and the Ottoman Empire, as they indicated that you were so wealthy you didn’t need to work, or even walk.

Actual high heels, however, are first ascribed to Queen Elizabeth I who is documented as owning “a payre of spanyshe lether shoes with highe heels and arches”. High heels have tottered in and out of fashion across the centuries until designer Roger Vivier, who worked for Christian Dior, took credit for inventing the stiletto heel, using plastic innovations to create a slender heel of incredible strength that he called “the needle”. Today high heels are everywhere, across every culture, so the effects of the heels are of importance.

For the new study, researchers looked at data from the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Electronic Injury Surveillance System of injuries seen in hospitals between 2002 and 2012. In that time rates of high-heel-related injuries nearly doubled. The total number of injuries was more than 123,000. Of these, more than 80 per cent were to the ankle or foot with the remaining 20 per cent being to the body, head or neck. More than half were strains or sprains with 19 per cent of all injuries being fractures. Interestingly, almost half of the injuries occurred in the home.

The researchers concluded that, although heels are popular, it would be a good idea for those who want to wear high heels to be aware of the potential harm that “precarious activities” in high heels can cause. Although, they did not elucidate what those precarious activities may entail.

Perhaps this is the research that may finally make those stiletto-stylists sit up and take notice and I say sit up because, let’s face it, their legs are in no condition to stand.