"Women in High Heels"
- Thread starter BodiesByBija
- Start date
BrookeErin
New Member
I am one who wears heels daily.... a 1" heel is 'flat' for me... true flats literally makes my legs/knees ache because I am used to heels. However, I m not one you will find complaining about pain... first of all, my feet and legs are used to and comfortable in heels... secondly, I am picky about my shoes (look and quality). I always look for well balanced shoes and they must fit RIGHT not good enough. I generally do a few salsa steps in the store to check shoes also. I passed up some lovely (on sale) Carlos Santana pumps today
and some silver sandals.... it may be frustrating trying to find good shoes, but I ADORE the shoes I have and most of them I can dance in 
I once tried a pair of high heel dance shoes with a pelott built in - is the word the same in English? A little soft thing pointing up, at the beginning of the arch of the foot. I wasn't sure I found it comfortable, but the person selling it said that this damage to part of the foot, that can be prevented with this device, is the most common reason for foot surgery.
Those of you who are used to high heels - should a good high heel shoe give support to the foot all the way through the arch, or is it just the front pad and the heel that really rests on the shoe? I hardly have any. The last pair I bought, a pair of really cheap low boots, tire my feet very quickly and I have come to wonder if this has something to do with it...
Those of you who are used to high heels - should a good high heel shoe give support to the foot all the way through the arch, or is it just the front pad and the heel that really rests on the shoe? I hardly have any. The last pair I bought, a pair of really cheap low boots, tire my feet very quickly and I have come to wonder if this has something to do with it...
BrookeErin said:I am one who wears heels daily.... a 1" heel is 'flat' for me... true flats literally makes my legs/knees ache because I am used to heels. However, I m not one you will find complaining about pain... first of all, my feet and legs are used to and comfortable in heels... secondly, I am picky about my shoes (look and quality). I always look for well balanced shoes and they must fit RIGHT not good enough. I generally do a few salsa steps in the store to check shoes also. I passed up some lovely (on sale) Carlos Santana pumps today
and some silver sandals.... it may be frustrating trying to find good shoes, but I ADORE the shoes I have and most of them I can dance in
Oooh ... I hope you still take steps to protect your future.
blue said:
This reminds me of when I was a competitive runner. I have feet ... oh, great, here I go discussing this :roll: ... where the toe next to the big toe is longer then the big toe. I once knew the non-technical name of this ... something like Morton's foot. Anyway, someone at the time mentioned to me how this created a weekness in the arch where blue's picture points. I used to where an arch support specifically to help prevent injury here.
So ... why did this strike me? Because I recently had a slight injury at the arch shown after a night of dancing. I figured it was just age setting in, and it just finally hit me that this "weakness" might have reared it's ugly head.
Hmmm ... well maybe it was age, too.
:lol:randomMysh
New Member
heels etc
oooh, where do i start...
first of all, this is my first posting on this great site. i've been lurking for a while, but this particular subject made me overcome my laziness and register. :shock:
i'm a ballroom dancer (yeah yeah, i know), i've also gotten into WCS lately, which i love for entirely different reasons and on top of all that, i'm studying to become a shoe designer at FIT in new york.
ok, introductions over with, on to the actual topic of shoes.
high heels hurt for a number of reasons, besides being utterly unnatural and all that.
first of all, vast majority of normal (non-dance) high heels do not provide any padding in the ball of the foot. considering that's where most of the weight is, UGGGGH for that! men must be forced to wear high heels before being allowed to design them.
secondly, none of them provide arch support, because the part that's supposed to support the arch generally doesn't touch it. why is it that sneakers get arch support and high heels don't? see above. btw, thanks a bunch to the person who posted the insolia link, it's the first sane approach to high heels i've seen so far!
thirdly, most women wear shoes that are too high for their feet. your feet, ladies, need to be flexible enough to get to that height to begin with, and strong enough to be able to support your body in that position. when i switched from 2.5" to 3" i had the worst arch cramps until i started doing exercises for my feet, and then the cramps were gone within a week. oh, and stretching before and after helps too.
the part of the foot that gets really messed up by wearing high heels is called the achilles tendon. it connects your heel to your calf in the back of you leg and when you wear high heels too much, it gets shortened. it needs to be stretched out regularly to avoid injury and to allow for comfort while wearing regular shoes. if you don't, you're risking rupturing it, and then you're in real trouble.
i'll have to check out those baudolino shoes (they're owned by the jones apparel group, as is everything else these days). i've yet to find high heels that feel decent after my dance naturals, and i'm a little sceptical because all the other shoes by that corporation don't cut it, but just maybe....
and yeah, WCS shouldn't be danced in high heels, that's silly. i mean, some people manage and still look awesome, but for most of us, it's hard enough to learn the "pull" connection to fight the forward push of heels on top of that.
whew
maybe next time i'll respond to each post separately instead of dumping it all in one fell swoop.
thanks for reading!
oooh, where do i start...
first of all, this is my first posting on this great site. i've been lurking for a while, but this particular subject made me overcome my laziness and register. :shock:
i'm a ballroom dancer (yeah yeah, i know), i've also gotten into WCS lately, which i love for entirely different reasons and on top of all that, i'm studying to become a shoe designer at FIT in new york.
ok, introductions over with, on to the actual topic of shoes.
high heels hurt for a number of reasons, besides being utterly unnatural and all that.
first of all, vast majority of normal (non-dance) high heels do not provide any padding in the ball of the foot. considering that's where most of the weight is, UGGGGH for that! men must be forced to wear high heels before being allowed to design them.
secondly, none of them provide arch support, because the part that's supposed to support the arch generally doesn't touch it. why is it that sneakers get arch support and high heels don't? see above. btw, thanks a bunch to the person who posted the insolia link, it's the first sane approach to high heels i've seen so far!
thirdly, most women wear shoes that are too high for their feet. your feet, ladies, need to be flexible enough to get to that height to begin with, and strong enough to be able to support your body in that position. when i switched from 2.5" to 3" i had the worst arch cramps until i started doing exercises for my feet, and then the cramps were gone within a week. oh, and stretching before and after helps too.
the part of the foot that gets really messed up by wearing high heels is called the achilles tendon. it connects your heel to your calf in the back of you leg and when you wear high heels too much, it gets shortened. it needs to be stretched out regularly to avoid injury and to allow for comfort while wearing regular shoes. if you don't, you're risking rupturing it, and then you're in real trouble.
i'll have to check out those baudolino shoes (they're owned by the jones apparel group, as is everything else these days). i've yet to find high heels that feel decent after my dance naturals, and i'm a little sceptical because all the other shoes by that corporation don't cut it, but just maybe....
and yeah, WCS shouldn't be danced in high heels, that's silly. i mean, some people manage and still look awesome, but for most of us, it's hard enough to learn the "pull" connection to fight the forward push of heels on top of that.
whew
maybe next time i'll respond to each post separately instead of dumping it all in one fell swoop.
thanks for reading!
Re: heels etc
Yes why? Is it difficult to make high heel shoes with arch support, or wouldn't it work for one reason or another? I have not really understood if this is what the Insolia stuff is about, or not.
I had to ask about that when I bought my tango shoes. Was it OK that the arch did not tough the shoe? Sure, said the sales woman.
Many years ago, I made a decision to never ever buy shoes with more than 2 cm heels. Such stupid stuff. Then I forget about my decision... but I would never wear them all day long. My 6 cm heels for tango make my feet tired in just an hour.
randomMysh said:
Yes why? Is it difficult to make high heel shoes with arch support, or wouldn't it work for one reason or another? I have not really understood if this is what the Insolia stuff is about, or not.
I had to ask about that when I bought my tango shoes. Was it OK that the arch did not tough the shoe? Sure, said the sales woman.
Many years ago, I made a decision to never ever buy shoes with more than 2 cm heels. Such stupid stuff. Then I forget about my decision... but I would never wear them all day long. My 6 cm heels for tango make my feet tired in just an hour.
randomMysh
New Member
blue--
i've been annoying all of my footwear professors with that question non-stop and i've yet to get an answer. from what i understand so far the answer is:
1. women buy them anyway
2. we'd have to change the way we're doing it now, which would cost us money, and see point 1
3. men design women's shoes and since they won't have to wear them, and see point 1, they don't care.
maybe i'm unfair to male shoe designers, in fact, i probably am. just makes for an easy target for sarcasm, i guess.
what the insolia people did was put the little "bump" into the arch portion so it actually touches the arch and keeps the foot from sliding forward. :notworth:
unfortunately, only a couple of companies are using those in their shoes. i'm going to nordstrom tomorrow to check them out
will post with an update.
i've been annoying all of my footwear professors with that question non-stop and i've yet to get an answer. from what i understand so far the answer is:
1. women buy them anyway
2. we'd have to change the way we're doing it now, which would cost us money, and see point 1
3. men design women's shoes and since they won't have to wear them, and see point 1, they don't care.
maybe i'm unfair to male shoe designers, in fact, i probably am. just makes for an easy target for sarcasm, i guess.
what the insolia people did was put the little "bump" into the arch portion so it actually touches the arch and keeps the foot from sliding forward. :notworth:
unfortunately, only a couple of companies are using those in their shoes. i'm going to nordstrom tomorrow to check them out
will post with an update.
randomMysh
New Member
oh yeah, and since there aren't any shoes that DO make an effort to touch your arch unless it's a flat one, what the sales woman told you is ok. actually it isn't, but sadly, it's all there is.
Chris Stratton
New Member
If I may jump to the defense of the shoe engineers, I'd point out that men's dance shoes don't have any arch support either. I don't really think dance shoes are designed to support the feet - instead they are designed to provide a tougher skin to protect them from the floor, while letting them work as naturally as possible. In some cases they also extend the heel, in which case they need to support the ankle enough to help keep it in place over the heel and reinforce the arch enough that the shoe won't fold in half when the weight is on the back edge of the heel... but that's all.
My understanding is that insolia's innovation is to try to keep the foot from sliding forward in the shoe and crunching the toes - I didn't get the sense that they were trying to support the arch for purposes of supporting the arch, even though it might be part of what they use to grab onto the foot.
My understanding is that insolia's innovation is to try to keep the foot from sliding forward in the shoe and crunching the toes - I didn't get the sense that they were trying to support the arch for purposes of supporting the arch, even though it might be part of what they use to grab onto the foot.