Head over heels (From The Argus)

Head over heels

12:47pm Monday 13th October 2008

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With this season’s heels higher than ever and the number of ankle sprains on the rise in Brighton, Ruth Addicott looks at the pros and cons of defying gravity in a pair of sky-high stilettos.

It's easily done. One minute you’re calmly moving up the escalator thinking about your next purchase, the next, panic hits as you realise the heel of your shoe is trapped in the grid. As you frantically try and wiggle it free, bags flailing, people looking and the top of the escalator fast approaching, you curse the day heels were ever invented.

With their amazing ability to slice an inch off your hips and sex up the dullest of outfits, a good pair of heels is one of life’s little luxuries.

It is unfortunate, therefore, that they come with such a cost, and a fair share of social embarrassment to boot (excuse the pun). Most of us have had a shoe incident at some point – be it sliding on the remains of a kebab in the morning rush hour or, worse, walking into the office with it hanging off your heel.

Even fashionistas are struggling with the latest heights, one Prada model falling off her six-inch heels on the catwalk in Milan last month.

According to shoe firm MBT, the latest cost of fixing the nation’s foot problems is £29m. So, shoes are back in the news again with podiatrists warning women to avoid the new sky-high stilettos and settle for a one-and-a-half inch heel instead.

The question is, is anyone listening?

Die-hard fashion follower Victoria Beckham defied gravity again last week, strutting around in a pair of spikey Chanel platforms – on a shopping spree of all things, in LA. Back in Brighton, sales of the six-inch Party All Night stiletto, £80, at Office are soaring, with the company having to re-order twice since mid-September.

According to the matron from A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, it’s not so much falling over in heels that’s the problem, but patients coming in “worse for wear” and using them as a weapon.

Local podiatrists, on the other hand, are seeing a distinct rise in ankle sprains and bunions.

Helen Morrell, a registered podiatrist from Brighton Podiatry, says while she used to see a shoe-related injury every two to three months, she is now treating two a week.

“When I started my practice 20 years ago, everyone was copying Princess Diana and wearing flat shoes. We didn’t have anything like the same number of problems then,” she says.

“The combination of the height of the heel, thin straps and the fact people wear them for longer periods – to go to work in or go clubbing – has made it much worse.”

The biggest problem is ankle sprains, with a lot of women getting their heel stuck between paving slabs. She recalls one woman who sustained a severe ankle injury after getting her heel wedged and ending up on crutches for three weeks.

“She landed awkwardly with her foot twisted underneath her and was in a lot of pain,” says Helen.

Another woman went on a sightseeing weekend to Italy in a pair of four-inch heels and came home with a fractured metatarsal.

“She was in a lot of pain with a swollen foot.

The height of the heel and the lack of padding combined with walking on the cobbled streets all weekend put too much stress on her foot and cracked the bone,” says Helen. “She had to wear trainers for two months after that.”

High heels don’t have the shock absorption of other shoes, which is why they can often lead to stress fractures. Pressure under the ball of the foot can result in inflammation around the joints and a shooting pain like an electric shock into the toes.

Helen, whose mantra is high heels should be worn “for dinner, not dancing”, claims women aren’t aware of the potential consequences, which can even include injury to the knees, hips, pelvis and thighs.

Carole Power, foot health practitioner from Foot Power in Brighton, has about 20 patients a week – many in their 60s and 70s, who have bunions from wearing heels when they were younger.

Her advice is to wear a heel for no more than two or three hours a night.

One person who’s had her fair share of injuries is personal shopper Catherine Fenwick – not from tramping the shops for her clients, but from her time as a professional dancer. “I went through years of blisters and bleeding doing turns, jumps and spins in heels,” she says. “Some of my friends had horrendous bunions and their feet became so deformed their toes ended up sideways.”

She recalls one dance in the early 1970s when two of her toes actually flipped out and were poking over the strap for the entire routine. “It was unbelievably painful,” she says. “I had to grin the whole way through as I was doing a solo.”

Debby Marsh, owner of vintage shop Frocks Away in Kemp Town, has also had to master the art of balance, her most embarrassing moment being the time she wore a pair of bejewelled designer shoes on her wedding day and the heel got wedged in the grass.

“I sank backwards into the mud and when the photographer asked me to move I had to be uprooted in a rather undignified fashion, a bit like a pot plant,” she recalls. “Just a tip there, wedges are better if it’s a lawn affair.”

If the lure of the latest heels is too great to resist, Nic Ramsey, owner of Brighton boutique She Said, has a slightly different take.

Potential hazards aside, she points to a study earlier this year which claimed a high heel can improve your pelvic floor muscles and actually boost your sex life. “This is why Italian women make better lovers – because they always wear high heels,” she notes.

• www.foot-power.co.uk
• www.brightonpodiatry.co.uk

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