Given that the heels cause a greater load and, therefore, a greater pressure on the joints of the middle and forefoot, "it can produce greater wear on these joints, favoring the onset of osteoarthritis ", explains Alfredo Martínez, president of the College Official Podiatrists of the Valencian Community (ICOPCV). "Specifically," he continues, "it affects the metatarsophalangeal joints and the toes."
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Whenever heels are used, this overload occurs in this area, therefore, the impact on the joints will depend on the height of the heel and the time of use . Martínez indicates that from this it can be deduced that, at a shorter time of use, the risk of osteoarthritis is lower.
Heel height
As for the height of the heel, the expert points out that from two or three centimeters the weight of the body moves forward . "The higher the heel, the greater the incidence of that weight on the forefoot and, thus, the higher the heel, the more likely that the disease will occur."
In addition, an increase of this risk could be added when the footwear does not have any fastening in the back part of the foot, that is to say, in the heel. This would be the case of sandals.
Can you prevent the problem?
All these problems can not be prevented more than using a flat shoe. Martinez believes that "when you use a heel you can not walk in any other way than in the position that the footwear prints on the foot, so there is no way to prevent osteoarthritis when wearing that footwear ".
To minimize this, the podiatrist suggests wearing spare shoes and changing them whenever possible to minimize the time of use of the heel and perform exercises with the feet, such as shrugging and stretching the fingers.
Other problems of heels
Apart from the risk of osteoarthritis, usually walking with this type of shoes can lead to other problems. "They give important problems of metatarsal overloads and dislocations or upheavals of the metatarsal or phalangeal joints," says Josep Manel Ogalla Rodriguez, president of the Official College of Podiatrists of Catalonia and full professor at the University of Barcelona .
In addition, they provoke hardness in the sole of the foot and fingers in claw, with the consequent calluses in the fingers.
According to Ogalla, the areas most affected by the use of heels are:
- The bones of the foot
- The joints of the foot.
- Ankle.
- The knees.
- The position of the spine.
- All the musculature of these regions.