Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter
Silver Spikes! There were heels aplenty at Pulse's 'Super Jam Sunday', held at the Hilton Kingston hotel, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, last August.- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Young gal wear yuh size,
Young gal wear yuh size,
Cause if yuh no tek Stitchie advice,
Girl den yuh coulddah get blind.
Lieutenant Stitchie, Wear Yuh Size
LIEUTENANT STITCHIE'S last statement is a bit extreme, but he does have a point which applies to not only the too small shoe but the pointed, hoisted one as well.
Still, you ignore the advice because of how fabulous those new Manolo Blahnik stilettos look on your feet, and hit the street.
You smile as you strut past a store front and see your reflection. The new beauties make your calves and buttocks look firmer and your legs longer, so how could something so ravishing be so wrong?
IGNORING SIDE EFFECTS
Many women painstakingly stuff their feet into the latest stilettos to go to work, parties, shopping and just about any event, except a long jog through the park. So devout are they, that they ignore the harmful side effects of those heels.
Catherine loves her heels and says she simply couldn't do without them: "Yes, I love them, because personally I have a very slack bottom and I was once told that it enhances one's bottom," she said.
She admits, however, that there is some pain involved but not because of the heels, she says. "My ankles will hurt, but I don't think that it is as a result of the heels. I have slight arthritis in my ankles," she said.
So wouldn't that make it worse? "Yes, but it doesn't bother me until I get out of them," she said.
HEELS WHEREVER SHE GOES
Catherine says a woman should be able to wear heels wherever she wants to, as long as she is able to bear the discomfort. "It depends on how much discomfort one can bear. But it takes a lot of practising and getting used to," she said.
It may not be a matter of just getting used to, though, as, according to a chiropractor Dr. Garth Officer, women need to choose their shoes wisely or they may be in for a lifetime of suffering.
"These stilettos can cause things like curvature of the spine. They can affect the Achilles tendon, that is the arch of the feet. These shoes often strain the arch of the feet. It can also affect the calf muscles and cause contraction spasms, lumbar problems, that is in the lower back. If the shoes are too tight it can cause pain in the knees," he said. Officer says women should instead opt for lower heels, which are closer to that 90 degree stance they have without shoes.
NO FAN OF HEELS
Unlike Catherine, Kerry-Ann Richards, isn't a fan of heels. She styles herself as a 'flatty'.
"I am a flatty ... I don't see the need to be dressed up in heels because I can't go out and dance in heels, and when I go out I love to dance," she said.
Richards says any female who puts herself through agony for additional aesthetics is, simply, "stupid. You can't go to a party in them and dance and, furthermore, later on some of them can't walk in them, so it is defeating the purpose of going out ... I will wear heels if I am going to an event where it is mostly sitting."
Richards says she is merely following the advice of her grandmother, who "used to tell me it will tilt my womb. So I do think about health concerns when buying shoes."
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Officer says there are several things women need to consider when buying shoes. "They need to watch the height of the heels. They also need to watch the envelope that the feet go in, that is, the tip of the shoes, because it could be too small and squeeze the feet," he said.
"... They also need to make sure that there is enough padding in the middle and make sure that the shoes are the proper size and not too small, with their heels hanging over. But then they also need to make sure that the shoe is not too big, because that could cause rubbing and cause corns and blisters," said Officer.
He also says women who are plus-sized need to think about shoes that support them properly. "You need to think about the body weight relative to the height of the shoe. There has to be enough surface area to balance on, or again there will be a transfer of pressure unto the back," he said.
Whoever said shopping for that great look was a 'shoe-in'?
