Pitter from Pat
CINDERELLA ...
probably lost her slipper because her feet hurt!
You have to be kidding! I thought high-heeled shoes were out never to return. But more and more I see they have resurfaced. Every female talk show host or news commentator is sporting a pair, and it seems the higher, the better. Of course, with new fads we always have to have new names so now we call them stilettos. New name —SAME PAIN!
Yes, I wore my fair share of these high-heeled shoes, “spikes” as we called them, and I was not sorry to see them go. But, during their popularity I remember being able to spend a whole day shopping all over the city while wearing my spikes. Years later, I came to regret the fashion statement that I was so intent on making.
When flat-soled shoes emerged this fall, I said halleluiah and grabbed a couple of pair right away. I was somewhat surprised to see several friends and colleagues still going for the high heels. Wow, I thought, here is your chance to be comfortable and still be in style. But I have already decided that if flats go by the wayside, which in the fashion world they generally do, I am still going to wear mine. After all, I am of the age that I can be eccentric if I want to be. One good thing about getting older—people just consider the source and forgive our fashion faux pas.
High heels are one of the biggest factors leading to foot problems in women, according to information released by the Mayo Clinic. The other is age, which is another story. Frequently wearing high heels, along with the natural changes in our aging feet, can set the stage for foot problems. Over time, our feet become wider and longer and the natural padding under our heel and forefoot thins. (Sounds like the rest of my body!) Years of standing and walking flatten arches and stiffen the feet and ankles. When we wear high heels — shoes with a heel 2 inches or higher—our foot slides forward in the shoe, redistributing weight, creating unnatural pressure points, and throwing the body’s natural alignment out of whack. And all of this misalignment, cramping, and stiffening spells OUCH!
A survey conducted by AOFAS (American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society) found that 88 percent of women squeeze their feet into shoes that are, on an average, a half inch too narrow. Most fashionable shoes measure only about three inches across at their widest point, while most women’s feet measure between three and a half and four inches.
These too-narrow shoes must be broken in, and the only way to break in shoes is by rubbing our bones and soft tissue against the leather until it finally gives us relief, or until we shove them into the back of the closest which is probably where they should stay. Men buy shoes to fit, while we “Cinderellas” try to make our feet fit our shoes; a shoe, like a bra, becomes an instrument for rearranging our natural assets into a more fashionable and (we think) sexier shape.
Take our regular body weight, and add a two-pound purse that we women are likely to carry, also add a brief case or laptop and it becomes pure torture for those ten little digits—our toes. Don’t these little guys have enough work to do just keeping us upright and balanced?
As attractive and tempting as high heels are, I am not going to yield this time. I have learned my lesson and am finally listening to what my feet want and not what is dictated by the fashion industry. My ten little “piggies” are going to remain safe and happy, and I am going to take care of them so they will take care of me.
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Patricia Kirby, Editor
Patricia Kirby brings several years of journalism, editing, and publishing experience to Radius magazine. She is a published writer and former co-editor of Hoosier Outdoor magazine, with a distribution throughout the mid-west. Patricia is also a former Editor and Publisher of the Hoosier Topics newspaper, distributed countywide in Putnam County, Indiana, and the Springs Valley Herald, French Lick, Indiana. Her tell it like it is writing style offers humor and a bit of satire in her monthly columns, "Pitter from Pat." She has done extensive traveling, including a month in the Outback of Australia to accompany a study group of Aboriginal tribal music.
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