High heel shoes; outcome of wearing in young generation: a cross sectional study

ABSTRACT

Outcome of wearing high heel shoes in young generation A Cross Sectional Study. Introduction/ High heels increase the heel height, thus increasing the pressure under the metatarsal head in forefoot, they push the center of mass of the body forward taking the hips and spine out of alignment moreover the altered posture of walking 1-5 in high heels places excessive forces on the inside of the knee joint. All these factors contribute in causing deleterious pathologic deformities. The studies carried out previously were more focused on the adult population furthermore there isn't much work done to investigate the effect of heels in Pakistan therefore, this was a non-invasive study the purpose of which was to evaluate these complications particularly targeting the medical students of medical colleges, Karachi. A total of 220 respondents aged between 15 to 25 years were selected as potential respondents meeting the criteria for selection. A convenience based randomized sampling method was adopted, where the participants were required to fill questionnaires and give their demographic details. They were inquired about the presence of any co morbidities which was an essential part of the exclusion criteria. They were also inquired about their usage of high heel shoes, their size, duration and frequency of usage, and if they had been causing any complications such as bunions, heel spur, callosities or pain in soles, calf or back. The data obtained was analyzed through SPSS and the graphs of frequency for all the complications were computed. After analyzing the 220 participants it was found that 7.7% were males while 92.3% were females, and 61.8% were found to be within 21 to 23 years of age. After the analyses of data for the complications it was found that out of the total participants 18.8% experience foot swelling, 19.4% blisters, 16.4% foot numbness, 12.3% foot callosities, 2.8% heel spur, and 3.7% experience bunions. From this study conducted on the students of medical college it was found that wearing high heel shoes is not associated with any significant complications among most of the students