Stilettos and Cobblestone - do the two work together???

Okay,  I am a little obsessed right now with Meghan Markle but not as much as Google thinks because I keep getting Meghan Markle news links!  But this one was pertinent.  Meghan wears heels on cobblestone in Dublin explores the difficulty wearing heels while walking on cobblestone streets!

I could swear I already wrote an article on this, but can't seem to find it.  The short answer is NO - of course high heels and cobblestones don't mix!  Walking on any uneven surface is difficult but cobblestone surface is uneven, irregular and a mix of contours joined together with sand.   And if you have ever tried walking in sand with heels, you know what additional problems that brings!

So what risks did Meghan take when walking on cobblestone in her 3 inch Sarah Flint shoes (not really stilettos if they are only 3 inches People Magazine)?  She risks spraining her ankles, spraying her foot, sustaining a fracture if she slips and getting those skinny heels stuck in that sand!

What the People article didn't talk about is the problem more women experience while wearing heels in another inconvenient surface:  grass.  They did provide a photo showing the Duchess of Sussex standing in the grass and mentioned that she was able to walk across the park, but the take home message in this instance is simply having those skinny heels sink into the grass!  I KNOW you have experienced that at least once.  in your high heel wearing life time!  Unlike walking on cobblestone, walking on grass while in heels once is certainly enough to make sure you don't make that mistake again.  Seems that getting stuck in the grass is more embarrassing than falling and spraining your ankles!  And who want to clean the mud off the heels while you are out and about all dressed up!

Bottom line - know where you will be walking BEFORE you venture out in those skinny heels!

Recently, Mattel made big news: Barbie's got a brand-new bod.  As a mother (who is more curvy than many), I am excited to know that there are now Barbie doll options other than those that I grew up with - bodies that reflect body types other than those I had always dreamed of having!  While my daughter is too old to benefit from Mattel's attempt to characterize young women more accurately, I know she will share in my excitement of acceptance of multiple body types. 

But what REALLY excited me was to read that Mattel had already modified Barbie with

removable feet so that she could wear heels and flats!

To me, these will always be Barbie's favorite pair of pumps!

How did I miss that news!!  Can you imagine - feet for flats and feet for heels! 

For evening, we would switch out our flexible flat feet to be able to put on high arched feet to have the stability to actually walk from our Ubers to the restaurant for dinner - without worrying that you might fall off your heels or worse yet, be seen wobbling in those heels.

For day time running errands with the kids (as a mom) or for the kids (as a teacher because when I was a kid all my Barbie's were teachers or secretaries), Barbie can kick off those high arch feet which lack shock absorption and put on her more flexible feet to allow proper foot function and rid her of her back pain.   

Or she can put on the feet that are bunion free (bunions BTW - are usually a result of those flexible flat feet) to put on flats that won't hit right across the bunions and cause direct pain.  Or she can put on the feet with a slight arch to make up for the lack of an arch in most flat shoes.

 

The boots, of course provide the best of both worlds, unless Barbie does have a bunion.

 

Then Barbie may need to go to Barbie Shoe Maker to have them stretched until she is ready to have surgery to correct the bunion.  Which of course, would be the best decision Barbie mom, Barbie teacher or Barbie secretary could make to ensure her future foot health and avoid Barbie arthritis in the unlikely event that she ages.




We won't talk about Barbie platforms!

 Now if only we can come up with a Barbie foot to make those sling backs stay on!

 

Sarah Jessica Parker - Did She Say High Heels and Cheap Shoes??

I love Sarah Jessica Parker.  I love Sex and the City.  I love high heels.  But do I love the recent comments she made in Net-a-Porter about heels, cheap shoes and foot problems?  No! 

Lets see what they said she said.

Sarah Jessica Parker, we all know, is known for her many years of day to day wearing of beautiful, extravagant and expensive high heel shoes during Sex and the City.  In fact, in the article she said,  "I worked 18-hour days and never took them off."  But during filming of I Don't Know How She Does It, she wore a pair of cheaper shoes that led to her an ankle injury.

So she went to a podiatrist and she said he said, "Your foot does things it shouldn't be able to do. That bone there... You've created that bone. It doesn't belong there."  Is that really what he said?

They said she said that she slipped because the sole of the shoe was not leather.  Certainly a non-slip sole is important;  but, I bet he said that the cost of shoe is less of a factor than the components of the shoe.  I bet he said that a wider heel shoe is a more stable shoe despite the height of the heel.  And I bet he said that a higher heel shoe is a less stable shoe despite the width of the heel.  I am wondering if she said he said anything along those lines.  I bet he did.

Lets think about what she said he said about her bones.  First of all, wearing stilettos for years in your 20's, even if your foot type finds them comfortable, will lead to foot problems in your 30's.  That's what I said he probably said.   That would certainly be what I said had she come to see me.  The shoes do hold your feet in an unnatural position and puts strain on the bones in an unnatural way.  But did he actually say that they caused a specific bone?  I doubt that is what he said.  Maybe that's not really what they said she said he said.

Wearing those sky high heels on a daily basis may cause or contribute to many bone problems such as arthritis, stress fractures, bunions and hammertoes or even cause bone spurs.  Or an even bigger problem is when you wear high heels on a daily basis, your Achilles tendon tightens and shortens and it makes it almost impossible to wear flats!  If her podiatrist had asked Ms. Parker if that was the case, I am willing to bet my most expensive shoes that he said she said yes! 

You may love wearing those heels now; but no matter who you are, Sarah Jessica Parker included, those high heels will present problems down the line if you wear them too much.  

That's all I am saying.