Tippy Toes: A Tale of Stiletto Heels

I have a much younger friend who loves shoes and has Lord only knows how many pairs. Since she’s young and fashionable, she latched onto stiletto heels–the ones invented in the 1950s that women get tricked into wearing every other generation. I can’t figure out why anyone would want to spend the day walking on their tippy toes, but women all over the world have decided it’s a great idea.


Fashion has sort of left me in the dust as the old age clock keeps ticking and comfort becomes more important. If it weren’t for television, I wouldn’t even know about guys like Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, or Jimmy Choo who make those expensive, high high heels for women.



Funny enough, if you check out photos of those men, you won’t find any of them tippy toeing around in high high heels. Their feet are encased in comfortable, handmade shoes bought with all the profit they’ve made off of maiming women’s feet. Since they’re all older gents, I doubt they wear those heels even when at home alone.


Back to the Fashionista Friend


But I’m getting diverted from my story. Back to my fashionista friend. She was clickety clacking down the stairs at work one day when she tripped–surprise–and ended up on the floor with a broken ankle.


Now maybe she would have broken her ankle no matter what she was wearing when she fell, but would she have fallen if she’d been wearing sensible, flat shoes? If she hadn’t been teetering on her toes, would she have had better balance and not fallen in the first place?


Still, she’s young and entitled to be foolish about fashion even if she’ll have to pay a high price as she ages. And she will eventually pay. Medical research shows that wearing high high heels contributes to a host of permanent health problems. Not only are a woman’s toes bent in an unnatural position, the shoes redistribute body weight incorrectly. Nerve damage, bunions, injured leg muscles, irreversible damage to leg tendons, osteoarthritis of the knee, low back pain, muscle spasms–what fun lurks around the corner for these gals.


Is Running Possible in Stilettos?


Not only fun lurks around corners, what about a lurking ex-boyfriend or spouse or just some weirdo? Her body is screaming flight, but her shoes are screaming WHAT? Try as I might, I can’t imagine a woman running away from a bad guy in those shoes. Even if she kicks them off, will she be able to run on her now damaged feet or legs contorted with ruined muscles?


Just wondering.


Frankly, I’m glad I was too young for those shoes when they originally appeared and too smart when they returned. Staying flat suits me fine.

 

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