High heels leave permanent marks on legs—and not just blisters
MOST women (and some men) contend that high heels are perfectly comfy—once you get used to them. What inveterate wearers sometimes gripe about is the niggling pain felt when forced to walk with their feet flat. This observation prompted Marco Narici of Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain and his (all male) team to find out once and for all what, if anything, happens to legs persistently subjected to high-heeled treatment.
By pushing heels up, such shoes in effect shorten the calf muscles. Since other research has shown that holding a muscle in a shortened position for a long time can lead to permanent contraction, high heels could have a durable effect on aficionados’ anatomy. As Dr Narici and his colleagues report in the Journal of Experimental Biology, this is in fact what happens. …
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