Active Women’s Feet in the 1990’s

Women are prominent in the US work force, and a lot of them are finding that their professional and white-collar employment brings job satisfaction, but that it’s tempered by other realities.  One is that the new responsibilities probably haven’t replaced those of the woman’s once-traditional role as homemaker and mother. 

Those roles remain, and many women find themselves not only holding down a full-time salaried position, but still doing the marketing, the child rearing, and the laundry.  Their feet are taking even more punishment, and the footwear that some fell obliged to wear in the work place may be playing a role.

All of this adds up to a need for women t pay more attention to foot care; to avoid subjecting themselves to unnecessary foot problems, particularly those that might be caused by improper footwear and hosiery.

High Heels: Use and Abuse

The wearing of high-heeled shoes is a prime example of women inviting foot problems.  Doctors of podiatric medicine see no value in high heels (generally defined as pumps with heels of more than two inches).  They believe them to be biomechanical and structurally unsound, citing medical, postural, and safety faults of such heels. 

They know, for example, that high heels may contribute to knee and back problems, disabling injuries in falls, shortened calf muscles, and an awkward, in unnatural gait.  In time, high heels may cause enough changes in the feet to impair their proper function.  Most women admit high heels make their feet hurt, but they tolerate the discomfort in order to look taller, stylish, and more professional.   In Gallup Poll, 37 percent of the women surveyed said they would continue to wear high heels, even though they did not think them comfortable.

Toward Greater Comfort

If women persist in wearing high heels, there are ways to relieve some of the abusive effects; they can limit the time they wear them, for example, alternating with good-quality oxford-type shoes or flats for part of the day.  High heels that are too tight compound the abuse; it’s good advice to buy shoes in the afternoon, since feet tend to increase in size later in the day.

Women have other heel-size choices, fortunately.  They don’t have to endure pain at the expense of their foot health.  The key is wearing the right shoe for the right activity – and that means varying heel height, determining what heel is most suitable.

For example, there are comfortable and attractive “walking” pumps (also called “comfort” or “performance” pumps) for women for work and social activities.  The shoe manufacturers who have introduced them seek a marriage of fashion considerations and comfort, offering fashionable pumps with athletic shoe-derived construction, with reinforced heels and wider toe room.  They are using space-age material, like long-lasting memory cushioning that acts as a shock absorber.  And the soles are more pliable.  At least three lines of walking pumps have the use of the American Podiatric Medical Association’s Seal of Acceptance.

Several companies have also designed footwear for certain athletic activities, including aerobics, specifically for women.  Perhaps the best shoe for women, from a structural point of view, is a walking shoe with ties (not a slip-on), a Vibram type composition sole, and a relatively wider heel, no more than a half or three-quarters of an inch in height – even though such a shoe may not be widely acceptable in the work place.

(Part 2 continues here.)