Guapura 101: ¡Qué Tacones! High Heels and Your Feet

Okay, first off, happy Monday.   Secondly, let’s talk tacones.  This ridiculous story comes on the heels (sorry for the pun) of a designer’s creation of nine-inch heels.  Yes, NINE inch heels.  For story and photo click here.

The Sky Heel is set to be the tallest shoe available to the general public for less than $100 a pair.  They come in red and gold, but with no guarantees that you will not fall on your face.

Since we’re a society that loves heels so much I thought I would take a boring detour over to the American Podiatric Medical Association (that’s feet doctors).  The organization had some good tips for ladies who feel like they need to torture themselves and their patas with tacones.  Here we go:

• Pumps more than two inches cause the most problems.
• Doctors of podiatric medicine believe such heels are medically unsound and attribute postural and even safety problems to their use (no fun!).
• To relieve the abusive effects of high heels, women can limit the time they wear them, alternating with good quality sneakers or flats for part of the day.
• They can also vary heel height. There are comfortable and attractive “walking” pumps, aka, “comfort” or “performance” pumps.  These pumps offer athletic shoe-derived construction, reinforced heels, and wider toe room.
• Perhaps the best shoe for women is a walking shoe with laces (not a slip-on), a polymerized composition sole, and a relatively wider heel with a rigid and padded heel counter, no more than three-quarters of an inch in height.

Do you hear that ladies?  No more than 3/4 an inch!  Good to know someone is looking out for the health of our collective patitas!