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Stretches to realign the body after wearing stilettos!
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General/Other
"As a podiatrist and fitness expert, it is my passion to increase the awareness of foot health in the fitness industry!!
I've created Rapid Recovery as a series of five of the best stretches to realign your body and alleviate foot discomfort after hours in stilettos. These five simple stretches should be done every time you wear your stilettos!! By realigning the body everyday you are bringing the body back into balance and preventing possible injury or foot deformities from wearing stilettos….
Stretch #1 – Hip Flexors
Unfortunately as sexy as stilettos make us feel and look, they make our gait less efficient. If you’ve ever tried to briskly walk several New York City blocks in your stilettos, you’d quickly notice you are working much harder than the person next to you who is wearing flats.
Why do I have to work so much harder to walk fast in stilettos? When looking at normal gait there is a natural progression from heel strike to toe off. Each step we take in natural gait ends with a pushing off or propulsion of our body forward. When wearing stilettos your foot is held in a plantarflexed position, altering the natural shift from heel strike to toe off and preventing the active propulsion of each step.
So instead of active propulsion, when wearing stilettos you actually have to pull your leg forward with each step – overworking your hip flexors. Since the hip flexors are attached to the lumbar vertebrae, tight hip flexors can actually pull the pelvis into an anterior pelvic tilt, increasing lumbar curvature and causing lower back pain. Since lower back pain is a common complaint among women wearing stilettos it is important to stretch your hip flexors every time you wear your heels!
Stretch #2 – Gastrocnemius/Soleus
When standing in stilettos your foot is held in a plantarflexed position. This means that your calves are held in a contracted or shortened position for sometimes hours at a time. If you find yourself wearing stilettos most days of the week and hours at a time, it is very important to stretch you calves everyday! If the calves are not stretched after wearing stilettos, overtime the Achilles tendon can actually shorten – making it painful to walk in flats or barefoot.
Stretch #3 – Peroneols
Due to the unstable position the foot is held in when wearing stilettos, one of the greatest risks associated with heels is rolling over your ankle or an ankle sprain. The muscles that play an important role in stabilizing the ankle are called the peroneols.
The peroneols run along the outside of the leg and insert on both the bottom of the foot and outside of the foot.
These ankle-stabilizing muscles quickly become overworked as you stand, walk or dance in your stilettos. Again it is very important to stretch these muscles every time you wear your heels as to prevent possible tendonitis or bursitis in these tendons.
Stretch #4 – Hallux Adductor
As women continue to cram their feet into na"... read entire tip
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feet, foot health, heels, posture, core
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created by
catwalk
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saved on 4/27/2008
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3
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47.5
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100 %
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