High-heeled footwear (often abbreviated as high heels or simply heels) is footwear that raises the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher than the toes. When both the heel and the toes are raised equal amounts, as in a platform shoe, it is technically not considered to be a high heel; however, there are also high-heeled platform shoes. High heels tend to give the aesthetic illusion of longer, more slender legs. High heels come in a wide variety of styles, and the heels are found in many different shapes, including stiletto, pump (court shoe), block, tapered, blade, and wedge.
Although high heels are now usually worn only by girls and women, there are shoe designs worn by both genders that have elevated heels, including cowboy boots and cuban heels. In previous ages, men also wore high heels.
The advantages of wearing highheels :
- They change the angle of the foot with respect to the lower leg, which accentuates the appearance of calves.
- They change the wearer's posture, requiring a more upright carriage and altering the gait in what is considered a seductive fashion.
- They make the wearer appear taller.
- They make the legs appear longer.
- They make the foot appear smaller.
- They make the toes appear shorter.
- They make the arches of the feet higher and better defined.
- They may improve the tone of a woman's pelvic floor, thus affecting female incontinence.
- They may help shorter people use items that have been designed for those of a normal height, e.g. sit upright with feet on floor on chairs that would otherwise be too high, reach items on shelves, etc.
- Feminist attitudes towards high heels
The disadvantages of wearing high heels :
- They can cause foot pain.
- They increase likelihood of sprains and fractures.
- They make calves look more rigid and sinewy.
- They can create foot deformities, including hammertoes and bunions.
- They can cause an unsteady gait.
- They can shorten the wearer's stride.
- They can render the wearer unable to run.
- Altered forces at the knee caused by walking in high heels may predispose to degenerative changes in the knee joint.
- Foot and tendon problems as listed below.
- Women who wear high heels frequently have a higher incidence of degenerative joint disease of the knees, this is is because they cause a decrease in the normal rotation of the foot, which puts more rotation stress on the knee.
Recommendation :
From the advantages and disadvantages of wearing high heels, as a women we should be more wisely and careful to wear high heels. We can wear it just for formal event and we shouldn't wear it in our daily activity . So, the bad effect of wearing high heels can be reduced.
High heels pictures :
Comment : I choose this topic to be discussed because there are many womens who like to wear high heels in their daily activity. And I just wanna present the arguments and information from differing points of view.
So if they open my blog this discussion will be useful for them.
Taken from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-heeled_footwear