✓ Written & medically reviewed by Dr. Molly McDonald, PT, DPT, LMT · Updated December 2, 2023

Are you worried that wearing amazing fashionable high heels will cause foot pain? knee pain? hip pain? or lower back pain? 
Did your mom tell you that if you wear heels you will get bunions? 
Dr. Molly discusses how wearing high heels changes the way you stand and walk. She will give you several tips on how to manage these changes to help reduce the stress on your body that is caused by wearing heels.

The moment you put on heel no matter how low the heel you are transferring your weight to the front of your foot. The higher the heel the more weight you place on ball of your foot. Then you are basically walking on the balls of your feet all day which completely change the way you walk compared to walking with flat foot.

Is it bad to walk on the ball of your foot day?

1. It causes your feet to work harder than normal.
2. Your calves have to work more than normal.
3. Your knees are stay bent which makes your thighs work more than normal.
4. Some people stand with their knees hyperextended after their thighs get too tired to held the bent position which causes a different stress.
5. Your hip rotate forward causing your back to arch which increase the pressure on you lower back.

The there are the dreaded bunions

1. Make sure you have the right sized shoes
2. Make sure you have room for your toes.

So am I saying you should give up and never wear your heels. No, not at all!
BUT I would say you should do a few things to help slow all the negative effects of waking in heels all day everyday.

1. Change up you shoe type and styles.for example: wear sneakers, flats and a variety of heel height and a variety of toe box shapes.
2. Start or continue a well balanced full body workout that includes exercise that strengthening and stretches. ​The goals is to enhance your bodies resilience which will reduce the damage from the stress of consistent wearing high heels.

If you are looking for more information. Check out one of these way to get in touch with with me.

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Real results from active adults in Cypress, TX

“Dr. Molly has done an outstanding job restoring my leg/hip strength levels to pre-2020 levels in less than a year. I am a competitive powerlifter and am back to deadlifting over 400 lbs.”

“I’m a 39-year-old runner who reached out to Dr. Molly with a nagging knee issue. She gave me several exercises to help alleviate my pain — and once I followed her plan, things turned around.”

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