Stretches to realign the body after wearing stilettos!

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Stretches to realign the body after wearing stilettos!

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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 narrow-toed stilettos, their feet begin to take on the triangular shape of the shoe. With high heel shoes being one of the most common causes of bunion formation in women, it is important to realign the feet after hours in stilettos. By stretching the hallux adductor muscle and pulling the great toe back in alignment, bunion formation can be prevented or slowed down.

In addition, the motion in the joint of the great toe is critical for a future of pain-free stiletto wearing. To prevent arthritis from forming in this joint you want to wear flats whenever possible and again realign the great toe after wearing your stilettos.

Stretch #5 – Plantar Fascia

When standing in stilettos there is a forward shift in your center of gravity to the ball of the foot or even more specifically to the great toe. This forward shift to the ball of the foot forces the toes into a dorsiflexed position for hours at a time. When your great toe is dorsiflexed it tightens the plantar fascia on the bottom of your foot. This means that your plantar fascia is also held in a tightened position for hours at a time! To prevent pain when not wearing stilettos, it is very important to stretch and do fascial release to the plantar fascia every time you wear your heels!

Details

Creator: catwalk
Category: General/Other
Posted: 4/27/2008
Source: www.catwalkconfidence.com

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