Many fashionable shoes hide a pair of painful feet.

Statistics from Temple University’s School of Podiatric Medicine in the United States show that improper shoes cause 64 per cent of foot problems in adults.

According to the study, most people walk an average 8,000 steps a day. When they walk, the pressure on the feet is about the same as his or her body weight. When one runs, the pressure can reach three to four times the body weight.

When the pointed front of a pair of high-heeled shoes is too narrow for the foot, it can squeeze and injure the big and small toe. If this continues, the big toe can turn valgus and the small toe may become club-shaped. The second and third toes will then be squeezed and also become injured.

“When woman wear high-heels, all of their body weight is put onto the front part of the bottom of the foot,” analyzed Qiao Quanying, a podiatric physician based in Beijing. “Young women might not feel when their toes are deforming in narrow shoes, because their feet ligaments are elastic and the condition can recover the next day. But middle-aged and ageing women might create permanent deformity of their feet.”

Other problems that may be caused by high-heels include corns and foot thenar muscle inflammation, whose symptoms are aching, fatigue and a scalding hot sensation on the soles of the foot.

Meanwhile, if the heels are too high, the centre of gravity of the body is pushed forward, which makes tendons and muscles in the feet tense all the time in order to keep one’s balance. If the tension lasts, it will cause inflammation at the ankle and the knees, as well as trauma to the lower back muscles.

At the same time, because high-heels make people lean forward, one needs to use strength in the legs to pull in the belly and puff out the chest. That, in the long run, can cause flatfoot, valgus big toes, shortened Achilles’ tendon and cause the spine to bend forward.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, there are 33 acupuncture points on the foot, or 60 reflective areas that respond to different internal organs, including the kidneys, stomach and spleen, neck vertebra and reproductive organs. In a sense, problems with the feet could incur problems with the head, spine, heart, digestive system and joints.

Contact podiatric physician Qiao Quanying at 6489-2350.

Location: Suit 903, Bldg B2, Sunshine Plaza, Asian Games Village 亚运村飘亮阳光广场B2座903室

(China Daily 04/01/2005 page8)