High Heels and Pain

It all started with some foot pain, and then the pain traveled upwards to the knees, with aches and slight pain every time I bend my knee or stand in those beautiful 5 - 6" killer heels, and then it went up again to my lower back. My spine hurts pretty much that it took me half an hour oF shifting about in bed to find an awkward but more comfortable position to fall asleep in. This morning while I'm here sitting on the chair with a cushion  supporting my back, even looking down at my chest induces pain to my back... :( And yes, I can't help but admit that all this is a result of me wearing high heels almost daily and I start on my first heels way back in my teenage years.


Will I give up on my high heels? I really can't imagine life without them.. and as I always tell myself every time I contemplate buying a new pair, "Style over Comfort". And now I'm paying for that mantra. So I'm currently on this short term remedy alternating between my keelers (killer heels) and flatties and man, I can't help but feel the outfit's not complete or perfect without my keelers! Like many shoe aficionados out there, I feel confident in my high heels, so much so I walk better, greet people better, and couldn't help but feel sexier in them, I thought they not only help with my posture, they also give my buttocks a nice perk and my legs look more defined too. I would sleep in high heels if I had to. If anything, keelers is the best invention followed by the push up bra. Some genius made the world a better place to live in with high heels!

I also thought that I would wear keelers even when I'm preggers, just like the way classy Mrs Beckhams does it! And the man I marry must not interfere with such decisions, even if he has to stay buried under my shoes! So in 10 months, I've amassed 10 pairs, which means a pair a month, and over the years the stilettos got taller, from 3" to 4" and now, 6". I created an album on FB, showing off my collection and I love it. Well, all I can say is that I don't want to have to retire on them before getting my first pair of Louboutins. This is not happening!!

I doubt the short-term remedy is working anyway, for as soon as I forsake the flatties thinking that all is well, the pain comes back again.. it's recurring.. Oh no... somehow being young, I can't help but see this in a very superficial way. I'm actually more concerned of how I'm going to cope without my shoes than how this is affecting my body and health. I've read that wearing high heels for long term can wreck alot of havoc as it alters the spinal position,  persist nerve pain, and the altered posture may cause knee osteoarthritis, a painful, degenerative joint disease.Other than these, there're also common symptoms like bunion or hammertoes, which thankfully, I do not have!

So anyway, there is this article I extracted from another article from Asia One which I thought to be a really good one; authored by British writer A. A. Gill, who gave his honest thoughts on stilettos. In his words,
'Like women themselves, a contradiction. On one foot, they're symbols of authority, intimidation, emancipation and sexual domination. They give height and form and a skillful dexterity. On the other foot, they're a self-inflicted Western version of Chinese foot-binding, a painful mutilation. They hobble women, making running impossible.

'The position of the foot tilts the pelvis, accentuates the buttocks, raises the organs of sex to the height of a male groin. They make women available objects. Just as instantly as the stilettos became a fashion classic, it also became a pornographic one, dribbled over and fetishised. Like pornography, the stilettos can boast being one of the few symbols of both feminist equality and sexual exploitation.'

There's another reason women love high heels: they equate youth.
Old women don't wear heels. They've reached a stage where safety and comfort are more important than style and striking a pose. They no longer wear heels because they no longer need - or want, or will get, in any case - a second look from anyone, men or women.

A study in Britain found that the height of a woman's heels varies throughout her life. In her 20s, she favours high heels. When she starts a family, heel height drops. In her late 30s and mid-40s when her career hits its peak, heels start to inch higher. Then when she moves into her late 40s and 50s, it drops again.
The study by department store Debenhams found that on average, a woman will give up her heels by the time she's 63. She then settles for inch-high footwear.

'Deciding to put away their high heels for the last time can have the same psychological impact upon women that retiring from work has upon men,' a spokesman for Debenhams told Britain's the Daily Mail in a story in February.

'It's an all too public admission that they are getting older, and so naturally many women want to postpone this evil day for as long as possible... It's a climb down which can cause a lot of heartache.'

Damn good article! Very apt. If like what he says, stilettos equate to youth, I cannot and must not trade in my keelers for old-fashioned comfy Scholls, or less than pretty Fit Flops or Crocs. To top it off, shoe giants don't make gorgeous to-die-for flatties anyway.


Maybe someone should show me the door to rehab. Isn't that kind of brilliant, to offer help to shoe druggies like myself to re-hab, re-condition and re-educate?  I would probably resist and sing like the late Amy Winehouse, "they try to make me go to rehab, I say NO, NO, NO!"