What Medical Advice Would I Give Bianca Andreescu?
05 Oct 2019
What an historic moment for Canada as we all watched Bianca Andreescu defeat Serena Williams at the U.S. Tennis Open and capture her first major tennis championship. I’m sure that this talented teenager will win more trophies in the future. So is there any medical advice to help her avoid injury and end a promising career?
One thing quickly caught my eye when the cities of both Mississauga and Toronto gave her a hero’s welcome. Her appearance in civilian attire gave us a chance to see her style off the court. But it was her shoes that shocked me. I wondered why a high performance athlete had not been warned of the hazards of high heels. One unfortunate misstep could cause severe injury.
For adolescent girls, high heels may seem like a step toward reaching womanhood. But the damage to their feet can eventually cripple them. Is the desire to appear glamourous worth it?
An orthopedic surgeon once told me, “I rarely see men with foot problems. But I see many women who are paying the price for wedging their feet in high heel shoes that force all their weight forward onto their toes.”
Could high heels mangle Bianca’s feet if she wears high heels too often? Nature did not design feet for such an unnatural concentration of force. Stilettos and other high heel shoes produce three times more stress on the front of the foot than flat shoes. Sooner or later something must give from continual pounding and straining.
Aching feet are often due to metatarsalgia in which the long bones of the feet become painful and tender. The cumulative effect of standing and walking in high heels for many years can cause serious bone impairment. And it only takes a moment to lose one’s balance or slip and fall.
High heel shoes are not a good prescription for a tennis star with many competitive years ahead. Bianca must remember Newton’s law that an apple falls to the ground because of gravity. This immutable law also means that gravity pulls the weight of our bodies into the cramped toe area of highly slanted shoes. Just as apples get bruised when they fall to the ground, punished feet can lead to bunions.
Gifford-Jones Law states that one medical problem leads to another and another. So high heels do more harm than just strangle feet. Aching feet and sore backs often go together. The height of stiletto shoes makes women lean forward, with a tendency to walk with knees bent. This in turn causes a tightening of muscles in the lower back as muscles must maintain more tension to keep the body upright and balanced. Bianca has already shown she is prone to injuries.
Walking on high spikes also provides little support for the sides of the feet. So a sudden twist of the body or any misstep could cause the foot to lean outward or inward resulting in a bone fracture. What a tragedy if an unexpected move had triggered an injury on the stage in Mississauga.
Orthopedic specialists agree that it would be preferable for women to wear flat shoes. But they also concur that lowering the heal to two inches would save many feet.
Wearing high heel shoes for years also shortens the Achilles tendon. So if women suddenly switch to flat ones the tendon can become overstretched and tear.
My hope is that Bianca’s trainer will realize that the medical risk of high heel shoes is simply too great. And that Canada will see her celebrate more trophies – in flats.
