High Heels Cause Long-Term Damage

Women commonly sacrifice comfort for fashion, but their choices in footwear may be causing long-term damage to their bodies, suggests a new study.


Wearing high heels, the study found, puts extra pressure on a woman's knee joints, increasing her risks for joint degeneration and osteoarthritis. As low heels become high stilettos, those risks grow.


"Everyone knows that high heels are bad for you," said Danielle Barkema, a biomechanist who conducted the new study at the Iowa State University in Ames. "Wearing even higher heels puts individuals at even greater risk of developing knee osteoarthritis later in life. It can get to the point where there's bone-on-bone contact, and knee replacements are in order."


Compared to walking barefoot, previous research found, wearing heels adds greater compression to the inside of a woman's knee. To expand on the work, Barkema and a colleague compared flat shoes with 2-inch heels and 3.5-inch heels.



More http://news.discovery.com/human/high-heels-legs-health.html

i heard somewhere that wearing heels too often also shortens your calves. and it makes your legs ache when you step out of your heels.

It's old news yet the fashion industry can still find plenty of suckers willing to be crippled in old age - and they're starting younger and younger. God help these girls in 30 years...