"Women in High Heels"

[randomMysh]

Chris--

you DO need arch support in shoes, period. the thing is, we're not walking around barefoot, that's just the reality of it. your foot has to work more in order to make up for the added stiffness of the sole and the confinement of the upper, and no matter how good your shoes are, they need to make up for the fact that your foot does not sink into a soft natural surface, which would allow for your arches to function naturally. if the shoe makes your foot work harder still, as is the case with heels, you need it even more.
and while dance shoes are vastly superior to just about any other type of high heel i've tried on, they still do not make up for the way a foot's position and work load changes when you elevate the heel 3" above the ball.
women account for a ridiculously high percentage of very painful foot injuries precisely because nobody bothered to think of making heels hurt less. what the insolia people did (and about time, too!) was come up with a way to distribute the weight more evenly along the foot. arch support is really a catchphrase. your muscles should be supporting your arch, not a device. but that does not mean that it's ok to take all of the weight the heel and the metatarsals (the arch) normally bear and put in squarely on the ball and expect it to be ok. the thing that irks me about all the high heels out there is that the woman's arch, which normally carries quite a chunk of weight, does not touch the shoe, which makes it impossible for normal functioning. give it the little bump a.k.a. arch support, and it takes the load off the ball and the toes, which alleviates a lot of health problems, not to mention allows you to dance those extra hours.
didn't mean to lecture anyone, sorry if it came out that way.

 

[Chris Stratton]

You can't dance with your weight distributed over a large area.

At any given point in time, your weight as a dancer is concentrated in a specific area of the foot, though that area will change as you progress through each foot action.

 

[pygmalion]

and while dance shoes are vastly superior to just about any other type of high heel i've tried on, they still do not make up for the way a foot's position and work load changes when you elevate the heel 3" above the ball.

Exactly why I prefer my heels to be lower. Three inches is too high for me. I always find it interesting to see how often women who wear beautiful high-heeled shoes have ugly feet. Not always, but often. I wonder if they see the correlation, but just don't care until it's too late. :?

didn't mean to lecture anyone, sorry if it came out that way.

Just call it passion, not a lecture, RM. 8) Happens to the best of us. 8)

 

[blue]

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.

Yes, I think that is another issue. I am not sure whether or not supporting the arch would work in high heels or not - but all shoes for running etc. do, and so does my dance sneakers.

 

[Vince A]

I think arch supports are a must . . . even the very thinnest of arch supports in some very flexible shoes!

 

[randomMysh]

You can't dance with your weight distributed over a large area.

At any given point in time, your weight as a dancer is concentrated in a specific area of the foot, though that area will change as you progress through each foot action.

i think i see your point, but i still think there's a difference between your weight being focused on the ball of your foot whether you want it or not, and being distributed normally along the shoe, *except* when you shoose to shift your center someplace, such as forward in latin.
try some reeeeally high heels on some time and you'll see what i mean

 

[Chris Stratton]

i think i see your point, but i still think there's a difference between your weight being focused on the ball of your foot whether you want it or not, and being distributed normally along the shoe, *except* when you shoose to shift your center someplace, such as forward in latin.

Perhaps dance shoes are specialty tools - designed to permit fine control for dancing, but not necessarily comfortable for standing around in. Though from what I hear, ladies dance shoes being better thought out than some similar social ones, they often are above average in comfort.

Also, dance shoes are designed to be used on sprung floors, so they can have very little padding or really much of anything but a bit of soft leather between your foot and the floor. I think one might quickly go lame wearing thin ones on pavement - walking shoes are made with thicker, more compliant soles. And mine get insoles - the street shoes, not the dance shoes.

try some reeeeally high heels on some time and you'll see what i mean

Have to find some the right size... while I'd like to try the experiment, I don't have quite the determination of the friend who went out and bought his own court shoes.

 

[pygmalion]

Try ebay. :wink: You can find some great bargains on larger sized court shoes. :lol: I've always thought it would be interesting to see a few guys try out heels, just for the educational value.

 

[Chris Stratton]

But then we get into the buying shoes without trying them on thread

 

[pygmalion]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[randomMysh]

dancing in shoes with no padding, even on sprung floors, is ok for maybe an hour or two. but do too much of it, and you'll get tendonitis in the ball of your foot and it's not fun at all. had it a couple of times, went and bought better shoes.
besides, the sprung floors are expensive, and other than big, established, professional ballroom studios, hardly any places have them.

 

[pygmalion]

So what's up with the Latin competitors who dance in the paper-thin, flexible soled shoes? Are they doing irreparable damage?

 

[DancePoet]

A woman dance friend and I were dance shoe shopping yesterday and we came across wooden soled Argentine tango shoes. We were both curious as to what the deal is with these?

 

[BrookeErin]

I always find it interesting to see how often women who wear beautiful high-heeled shoes have ugly feet. Not always, but often. I wonder if they see the correlation, but just don't care until it's too late. :?

Or perhaps we choose sexy choose BECAUSE we don't like our feet. Personally I don't think feet are that attractive anyway... but you're unlikely to find mine without a pedicure and toe ring, and generally in sexy shoes.

 

[cocodrilo]

I've seen a lot of women who have decent-looking feet, but don't take proper care of them so that they're not presentable in high-heeled sandals. Get out that pumice stone girls, and a bottle of dark-colored nail polish for chrissake! It isn't all that time consuming... :?