We can all remember Naomi Campbell falling in that Vivienne Westwood show, and with the publicity of girls falling in recent shows it makes you think should they take out accident insurance on their bodies they must be full of stress fractures with all the strain they put their feet under. As a qualified Foot Health Practitioner I have seen so much damage over the years from women wearing heels for years.

I get middle aged and elderly women with severe bunions, corns and heel spurs from ill fitting shoes, and the best part is they know they have wrecked their feet but they still wear the wrong shoe type. Trying to explain to girls that the gorgeous shoes they have just bought could indeed give them back pain, corns and hammertoe or even worse osteoarthritis, torn Achilles tendons and varicose veins is fun in its self. Most say “So, it won’t happen to me!” or I have women saying they wear their shoes because their husband tell them to wear them when I ask them why they are wearing a shoe half a foot width too small.

The husband needs to wear shoes far too small for him and see if he would still tell his wife that she should wear them. I dread to think what her x-ray looked like severe bunions on both feet and hammertoes, women sometimes complained of a tight pain in the back of their ankles which was more than likely a tight Achilles tendon another drawback of high heels. There have been instances of Achilles tendons snapping and Achilles tendons being permanently shortened by always wearing heels.

My feet were ruined from doing ballet for years and now I understand why I have arthritis from the hips down when you think that you cause 25% body weight pressure on your hips and knees from wearing high heels. I tell everyone I know that they should wear crocs; I know they are not the prettiest of shoes but they do have some fantastic benefits. I wear them all the time because of their excellent arch support and orthotic heel cup, they have circulation nubs in the inner sole which (as you guessed it) improve your circulation and for the boys and fitness fanatics in your life they are resistant against the Trichophyton Mentogrophyte fungi (that’s athletes foot ) so they do not harbour germs like trainers do. With the releasing baby shoes as well now there is certainly no excuse for bad feet anymore.