Studying the Plantar Pressure Patterns in Women Adapted to High-Heel Shoes during Barefoot Walking

The feet are the only anatomical structures of the body which are in touch with the ground and complete the lower limb chain to bear the ground reaction forces (GRFs). Inappropriate distribution of the GRF as a result of the long-term use of high-heeled shoes causes an excessive stress which results in a wide-range of musculo-skeletal disorders mainly in feet and leg areas. Due to the increased rate of using high-heeled shoes in the world and because of the lack of knowledge about feet pressure patterns in this condition, the current study focused on studying the pressure in different parts of the foot in barefoot women who used to(were accustomed to wearing) wear high-heeled shoes for a long time.

In this observational analytical case-control study, two groups of 35 subjects, were recruited. The feet pressure indexes of the experimental group of women who were habituated to wearing high-heeled shoes for the last 2 years were compared with women in the control group who wore shoes with normal heel height. A Zebris pedobarograph (Zebris Company, Germany) system was used to study the subjects’ feet planter pressure during the static (double stance) and the dynamic (walking with self-selected speed) conditions. All tests were run amog subjects with their feet bare.

The statistical analysis showed a significantly stronger pressure on feet in participants with high-heeled shoes than the ones in the control group (P<0.001).

The finding of this study suggested that long-term use of high-heeled shoes results in some changes on the distribution of body weight on feet even during barefoot standing and walking positions. In other words, individuals wearing high-heeled shoes involuntarily press a greater percentage of their body weight on the front part of their feet, which may results in pathological conditions of their feet such as callosity, corns or ulcers beneath their forefoot.