kikepa

On 8/14/2012 at 6:31 PM, onyourtoes said:

When I first started seeing hidden wedge sneakers on various sites I thought, "How pointless." But, I find as I get older, my confidence in wearing heels on the street has diminished, though I still like the feel of a heel and being a bit taller. Enter the Classics by Buffalo 2208 (solestruck.com). It comes in men's sizes to 13, and has a 3 1/2 inch hidden wedge heel -- see the arrow on the photo. To the casual eye, they look like flat boots, but there are differences: the arches bulge up more, they look smaller than my other shoes -- when I opened the box I thought they had shipped the wrong size, and someone watching closely might detect that my legs are longer and my ankles bend a bit higher than they should (mostly noticable with shorts). So, I get heels, height, no stares, and by getting used to wearing them out of the house, they give me back of bit of the confidence I've lost, so that when I wear "real heels," they will feel natural and I'll feel more confident. Think of them as confidence training wheels/heels.

Looks exactly like the ones I bought.  I've worn them to the grocery store, library, and to dinner with a friend who knows about my heeling and would notice the height difference but wouldn't say a word.

I've occasionally worn them at home, but one of the tongue seams creates a huge dimple, even with medium thickness socks.  I fear any prolonged wear would wear a nice gash and accompanying scab in my leg.

On 5/26/2016 at 8:01 AM, alexzghreu said:

...too late...

Danke.

Might help to include the "event" date in the thread title...

I'm sorry I haven't been on the forum for at least a year.  Ankle problems while working hard towards advanced degrees.  Still wearing heels, sometimes, although not nearly so high.

Catch you on the forum.  Looks like there's been quite a few changes!

 - kikepa

PS:  I have a ton of (30+) size 13 shoes I'd like to sell.  Does the For Sale forum still exist?  How well does it work?  About half are "tried on once, doesn't fit, put back in box and never returned."  These items will be shipped in their original boxes.  The rest range between slightly worn and slight to moderately worn.  All boots have been worn with either socks are at least hose, but sandals may have been worn barefoot.  I do not, however, have (nor have had) any sort of skin nor any communicable diseases or conditions.  A case of being overweight due to a bad ankle is about all.  I'm one of those folks for whom, "every bug that ever bit me died" folks.

There's a reason I'm not selling any well-worn items, and that's because they fit and I'll continue to wear them until they fall apart!

I hope to post details and pictures on the sales forum soon.  Just wanted to get my thoughts down, here.

 - kikepa

It's cool enough in the summer to keep wearing jeans, my favorite attire with black mid-heel boots.

The winters here can get cold enough to forgo heeling altogether.  25 deg F (-4 C), not a problem.  When it drops to 10 below (-23 deg C), then any leather boot with socks will freeze your toes off in about half an hour.  Only insulated cold weather boots will work for any length of time.

One of my favorite things to do in the winter, during milder weather, obviously, is to head to one of the many coffee shops, pull up a bar stool or sit in a large stuffed chair and just read a good book.

I've been a regular here for years, but have had very little time/inclination to post as of late.  

Just wanted to let everyone know I haven't forgotten about you!

 - Kikepa

Medical personnel seem like they have seen about everything at some point and nothing really fazes them . Truthfully , I think they were more concerned about my health than my toe nails.  

I'd say you're correct on both accounts.

While many people can wear high heels their entire lives without issue, the fact remains that many others cannot.

I know, for I am one of the latter.

I still like wearing high heels, but have had to cut way down on height, as well as duration, as a result of last summer's ankle surgery designed to repair some of the damage caused in part by *GASP!* my wearing of high heels.

Whether people accept facts or not, facts remain FACTS, and the Russian minister is thinking of his socialized medicine, for which his or a related department must foot the bill.  All it takes is a few doctors reporting certain key issues known to be either caused by or related to wearing high heels before the institution running socialized medicine steps in and says, "Uh... no.  You cannot do that.  It's "dangerous," meaning costly to them.  Insurance companies do it all the time, and socialized medicine is nothing more than a government-sized, non-profit medical insurance company.  They absolutely will either A) work aggressively to curb behaviors which cost them money, and work aggressively to force behaviors which save them money.

Test time:  What's this really all about?  Hint:  The word was mentioned twice in the last sentence.

Actually no. As others have already intimated most of the "budget" footwear is made in China. The Chinese are experiencing labour challenges at the moment. The first one is the fact that the government has passed a law effectively doubling the salaries of most people primarily those employed in factories.

 

From around US $1 to a whopping $2 per hour.  Apparently, the government has been listening to their workers, much like in Seattle, but like the govt in Seattle, their grasp of graduate-level economics isn't stellar.  They haven't a clue that the trickle-down effects of raising minimum wage will eventually, and will always lead to eradication of all short-term increases in buying power as a result of the min wage hike, and often erode into long-term buying power.  When left alone, however, the normal market economy grows opportunity every time some company gets too greedy.  

 

Secondly, there is nothing to stop rival factories recruiting staff from right outside the factory gates tempting them with pay rises if they defect to them.

 

Bingo.

 

This means that someone could go to lunch and not come back because they've gone to work for someone else, you do not have to give your employer a period of notice.

 

I suspect the hike was designed to minimize this, as wages will be capped at $2 an hour by economic forces for some time to come.

 

Thirdly, many workers come in from the country to work for a while in a factory for what is for them a good wage. They then save up and then when they have enough they go back to the family farm, usually for good.

 

The increased wages will only accelerate this process.

 

Factory owners need to offer incentives to induce them to come back after the New Year holiday.

 

All of this means that salaries and therefore manufacturing costs are spiralling and that coupled to increasing energy costs add up to rising prices of Chinese made goods.

 

All of which, from the macroeconomic perspective, indicates capitalism throughout world markets is alive and well.  

Again, NOT an ad.  I'm an old poster, here.  I've also been a closet heeler most of my life, an apartment/home heeler most of the time, and a street heeler on occasion, I love it when I can find high heels in my size!

This often meant wearing plastic crap by high-price, low-quality offerings by stores who are very difficult to weed out of the searches on Amazon.com and others.

Well, I'm wearing a pair of my latest heels, by Onlymaker.  They lean towards rather long names for their shoes, but if you want to look for them on Amazon, try searching on this:  

"Onlymaker Women's High Heel Peep Toe Open Toe Solid Sandals Buckle Strap Gladiator Stiletto Wedding Shoes"

Alternatively, just search on Apparel, Shoes, Women's, and narrowing your search by name.

I'd paste a picture, but my camera got soaked when my son left it out in the rain last summer.  He's sorry, and so am I...

Naturally, I'll be loads happier when rock-solid and very comfortable footwear companies like Nine West and Clark's inch up their offerings by a unit of just 1, into my size 13 range...

I feel genetics are definitely involved but poor shoe choices will absolutely exacerbate this condition. My podiatrist tells me 85% of his bunion patients are women, and there are several statistics posted that confirm this imbalance.

I had foot problems (bunions) that started long before I ever considered putting high heels on my feet, I have pictures from my childhood that shows this. Also, there are several others in my family with bunions.

Anyway, I had corrective surgery about 10 years ago that resolved my issues, and since then I have been wearing heels far more than I ever did before the surgery (but I am mindful to wear proper fitting shoes), and I see no evidence that the issue has returned.

So my point is that some people are genetically predisposed to be more far likely to have these sorts of foot issues, but they aren't necessarily guaranteed to have those issues as long as they stay away from narrow / poor fitting, high heel shoes. On the other hand, there are those that will never have foot issues even with a lifetime of wearing heels. So I am absolutely convinced genetics is a major player in this.

I am sure there are a lot of men like me that either have bunions or have a tendency to develop them, but since they normally don't wear shoes that exacerbate the issue, bunions will not become an issue for them, or they may just live with them since they normally wear wider shoes it won't really bother them enough to see a doctor about it.

Update - I found this article that pretty much confirms most of the same things I just said above:

http://www.dailymail...unions-too.html

Good post and link, hhboots - thanks!

Update: I had surgery two months ago, and am recovering slowly but surely. Due to the nature of the surgery, I'll be in athletic walking shoes for six months, at least until I can walk two miles every other day without pain or swelling. Only then will I try heeling, and I'll be starting from the ground up, literally.

In the meantime, I now have access to a great deal of top-quality, peer-reviewed studies on various abnormalities of the foot. One of the most encompassing ones notes that regardless of one's genetic disposition towards bunions, studies done on all genetic types throughout the world notes a very high correlation between wearing either wide-open sandals or going barefoot and the lack of bunions. The crux is that a lot of male dress shoes employ pinched toes, as well, and if you're genetically disposed to bunions, pinching your toe, even slightly, can result in a bunion. Even if you're not genetically disposed, you can still get bunions from pinched toes, it just takes a lot more pinching. Also, even if you are so disposed, wearing flats will not necessarily prevent them, as a lot of people who sleep on their sides unknowingly put inward pressure on their toes.

For years, I've worn male Merrell clogs to work. No bunions. Regardless, my surgery was on my ankle, nothing more. I do know that so long as I wore heels on occasion, it didn't really yelp, but when I began wearing heels all the time, it steadily degraded.

Shafted, while I'm very sorry to hear about your father, that's a single instance, and is not statistically relevant to the topic at hand, particularly when studies involving hundreds of thousands of people tell a far different story. I do not appreciate your continued revulsion of science and the practice of medicine exhibiting itself in the form of derisive comments describing those of us who respect doctors as "wearing tin hats." That's wholly inappropriate and a violation of forum rules.

I had bunions and hammertoes before I started wearing heels, which I only do seldomly.

I suspects genetics have a lot to play.

I suspect they do play a role. However, the podiatrist specifically named half a dozen over-use/pressure injuries, of which he said 90% of his cases are long-term HH wearers (as reported by his patients), and he suspects the other 10% are too, but are too ashamed to admit they messed up their own feet.

Now when I see woman that have feet that are messed up from heels I think of it as "battle wounds" from heels and can only imagine how much time she must have spent in heels and what she has worn and how much her feet have hurt.

I'm not knocking wearing heels. But why live with "battle wounds" and chronic pain throughout the second half of your life when you can avoid it by wearing heels less and flats more? Or by choosing properly-fitting heels? Or by combining both approaches?

I'd wear heels all day, if it wouldn't adversely affect my feet. More than one long-term member, here, has had to curtail, if not halt their heel wearing later in life because they spent too much time in heels and not enough time allowing their feet to readjust to the position and stresses for which feet have evolved.

Enjoying the best of both worlds (heeling now, good foot health later) requires some sacrifice now. If I don't, there will be hell to pay later.

I think the fact that they're six inch heels is a far more relevant factor to your ankle and toe discomfort than whether or not they have an arch.

The last time I went dancing at a club was several years ago. No one seemed to care that I was wearing some light eye makeup or boots with a 3" tapered heel under my black jeans. Then again, it was an "alternative" club, so I was by no means the odd person out. These days if I do go out, it's main to sample the music, sit on a barstool in heels, while reading a good book and sipping a cold one (beer). I usually find a good conversation or two, as well.

Parents often wig out the first few times their daughters upgrade from flats to heels, too, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The website remains up! Too bad they only have one shoe larger than size 11, and nothing in a 13. They do have some really nice styles.

I really like this one. Not the gold that eventually pops up, but the tan one that initially shows. There are some summer concerts around here, and I've gone to some of them in the past wearing an ankle-length skirt and flat sandals. I'd be willing to wear these hh sandals...

Interesting question, but you'd be surprised at what "inspires" me. I was born and raised in the country, and while we certainly had access to magazines ranging from Women's Day to Vogue, we'd rarely see anyone dressed like that. Far more common you'd see someone in a loose, full-length cotton, twill, or knit skit, and a blouse. Picture "Aunt Meg" from the movie, "Twister." Even when I was younger, lots of girls and women were dressed in jeans and a button-up short or long-sleeved shirt. My two favorite outfits are a below-calf jeans skirt I can wear with just about every sandal and boot I own, and an ankle-length jumper I wear on top of various cotton t-shirts. I can wear either in the summer or the winter, and if it's really cold and I'm headed outside in the wee hours of the morning to get the mail, I'll just pull on my thick pair of knee socks and some knee-high boots to keep the bottom half warm, while I use a ski jacket for the upper half. Between my long hair pulled behind a head band, my somewhat feminine features, and a pair of women's frames, on the rare occasion I do bump into someone at that hour, they simply say, "Hello, Ma'am" and keep on going. So, I'd say I'm inspired by the "country feminine" look more than anything else. But one Halloween I went dressed as a female pirate, with knee-high stiletto boots, stockings, a frilly long-sleeved blouse, a bustier-skirt, and a feathery hat. I went whole hog, with makeup, nails, and a pair of "accessories" to fill out the bustier. To this day, I'm not quit sure if anyone at that party ever figured out I wasn't just a girl dressed in a pirate costume, but a guy dressed as a girl dressed in a pirate costume. Must have been dark...

I see the site as being somewhat divided between the fetishists and the afficionados. Clinicaly, a fetish is "psychologically necessary for sexual gratification," although I wound tend to lump obsessions with high heels into that category, as well, especially if it's a male obsessed with the various aspects of wearing high heels himself. The only time I ever wear heels outside my apartment is if I'm getting the mail between 1 and 4 am, if I'm going on a long drive, like to the airport (more than an hour away), if I'm frequenting a major landmark out of state where I'm unlikely to run into anyone I know, or if I'm heading to one of two bars downtown where cross-dressing and transvestism is routine enough that no one gives a second thought to a guy wearing heels, and that's regardless of whether I'm wearing a skirt with them, as well. Thus, for me, wearing heels is simply an extension of who I am on the inside. There's no sexual component to it at all. Therefore, I'd say I fit into the "afficionado" category. But you're right - some folks here do fit into the fetish category. I've seen at least one poll on this site in the last year or so on which category the guys tend to be. That might help with a better understanding of the break-down.

What's funny to me is this doctor was blaming high heels for these foot deformities. If you take the words you quoted of his though, the fit is the real issue.

I think he was blaming the generally poor fit of most high heels. I buy my shoes online, but I return 4 out of 5 pairs due to poor fit. If I can wear them for at least four hours out of the box without discomfort while I sit and type, stand to do the dishes, and walk back and forth taking care of other things, they're keepers. If not, I send them back.

I think the problem arises when people like the way the shoe looks more than they're concerned about its comfort. They kid themselves into thinking "they'll break in" but keep wearing them even after it's clear the only thing that's "breaking in" is the person's foot.

In the meantime, consider this:

“By one recent estimate, seventy-five percent of the problems eventuating in the more than 600,000 bunionectomies, hammer toe repairs, neuroma excisions, and bunionette corrections performed annually in the United States ‘either result from or are greatly aggravated by the use of high-fashion footwear.’”

That's not a quote from a medical journal. It's a quote from a law journal.

After 8 years of daily wearing, outside of a few callouses my feet still look like the feet I've always had.

Anecdotal evidence. I'm a statistician, so I tend to side with scientific studies which are properly devised and conducted over a sample population of one. Nothing personal, mind you! I'm just all too aware of the many and varied biases which creep into the human experience.

Actually, I'm facing this right now, and had a long talk with my podiatrist.

My situation: I sprained my ankle in the summer of 2011 (I actually broke it - hairline fracture). It took six weeks to "heal," but has been giving me problems off and on over the last few months, mainly because I failed to keep walking on a regular basis. There are some heels I can wear all day, but others of the same height I can't wear for more than a few minutes. I can walk in walking shoes, but not far, and if I overdo it, I have to stay off of it for a week.

Here's what he told me with respect to my ankle:

1. Stay out of heels for three months.

2. Wear a high-quality walking shoe. About $70-$100.

3. Start walking! Slowly at first - one-half mile every four days (three days rest between walks, which gives the cartilage a chance to simmer down), then steadily ramping it up until at the end three months I'm to be walking 3 miles every other day, preferrably 1-1/2 miles in the morning, another 1-1/2 miles in the evening. Three days rest between walks for the first month. Two days rest between the walks during the second month. One day between the walks during the third month.

4. He dramatically changed my diet and exercise plan, too, saying "Along with the walking and staying off heels for a few months, this will encourage the bones and cartilage in your ankle to remodel in a position that's most conducive to your life-long health:

1. Cardio.

a. Need 1 hour a day, three times a week. Every other day. If too much, do a minimum of 20 min in Training Range 1x/day.

b. Best broken into two, 1/2-hour sessions, one before breakfast, and one before dinner. That's helps you eat less of each.

c. Intervals (best approach):

1. Max HR = 220-age.

2. Upper Training Range (UTR) = Max HR * .85

3. Lower Training Range (LTR) = Max HR * .75

4. Method:

a. Begin very slowly!

b. Increase effort slightly about once every two minutes, monitoring HR constantly (this doubles as your warm-up)

c. When HR = UTR, cut the effort in half and continue to monitor HR.

d. When HR = LTR, begin increasing the effort slight once every two minutes (this keeps you from over-shooting)

e. Repeat steps c and d until the end of your 30 minute effort.

f. 5 min cool down

2. Strength - 1/2 hour a day, three times a week. Every other day.

a. Variety of either calisthenics, floor exercises, weight/resistance training, etc.

b. Don't do cardio on same day you do strength training. Alternate!

3. Fruits and Vegetables

a. Wide variety of both

b. Raw veggies are better than cooked for most. Carrots and broccoli should be half-cooked. Some veggies (squash) require cooking.

4. Fats & Processed Sugars

a. Eliminate all solid fats and processed sugars from your diet. No butter, reg/low-fat cheeses, hamburger, bacon, or maple syrup. A little honey is ok. Small amount of lowfat Greek yogurt a day is ok.

b. Fats from fruits, vegetables, and lean meats like chicken and fish (salmon) are fine.

c. As you're loosing, your body will turn to your own fat for it's nutrition! That's good - you need it.

d. Skim milk on cereal is fine.

5. Lean Meats and Proteins

a. Fowl: Turkey, chicken, game hens, etc. are fine. Remove skin and underlying fat. Braise, boil, bake, or grill. Best when baked covered, as it preserves the moisture, vitamins, and flavor.

b. Fish: One 5-oz can of pink salmon per week is all you need. Make into tuna-fish-like paste and use half in a sandwich on Mon, the other on Thu.

c. Eggs: One a day is fine. Hard-boiled is healthiest.

d. Nuts: Almonds are healthiest, but a variety is better. Walnuts and pecans are tasty and good for you. Salted nuts, not so much.

e. Beans, lentils, and legumes: Need to be cooked. Taste great is soups!

f. Grains - limit to Whole Rolled Oats: Super quick and easy to fix! The only modern grain that's recommended. Stay away from wheat. Spelt and Quinoa are ok, too, as is wild rice. This eliminates most of the gluten, which causes far more problems in people than people know, especially while healing.

More on the walking issue... I really think if your wife looks at this as a whole-health issue, follows both the diet and the exercise plan, and realizes that her ankle needs to get back to normal in it's "evolutionary position" i.e. the position for which it evolved over the last couple of millions of years, first, before she starts heeling again, she'll stand a far better chance of avoiding fusing altogether, and will stand a good chance of actually being able to wear heels again.

Lindsey Vonn is my inspiration for this! She's had some terrific wipe-outs, but skiing was not a part of her recovery process. First surgery, then rest, then standing, then walking, then running, and only then would she step back into boots, bindings, and skiis and beging the last phase of her recovery process.

Here's the schedule I came up with for myself, with my podiatrist's concurrence. It starts out very easy, 1/4-mile at first, slowly increasing in distance, while also cutting down the intervals between walks once every four weeks:

Month 1: 3 days between walks

Month 2: 2 days between walks

Month 3: 1 day between walks

The "total minutes" is total duration of the entire walk. If you're doing an out-and-back, as I do, walk away from your home for half that time, turn around, and come back.

And here's the best thing: Your total milage per week during the first week is only 1/2 a mile. By the twelfth week, however, you'll be doing about 10 miles each week, looking good, and feeling great!

Please see attached file for the chart.

I now have a podiatrist! Not for my feet, thank God, but for an ankle problem I developed since I sprained mine in 2011.

I shared this with my podiatrist, and he just laughed and said, "That's what they get for wearing heels all their life!"

I've been on this forum for a few years, and all I've heard here is how wearing heels does not produce the sort of deformities you see in these 15 celebrities.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention....

Anyway, I was a bit flabberghasted, so I asked the Doc, "Are these really caused by wearing high heels? I thought that was largely a myth."

He said, "Oh, no. Not a myth at all. Here, let me show you," and proceeded to walk me through every one of the 15 photos, describing what happened with each of them, and why. I can't remember most of what he said, but the bottom line is:

1. If the heel is too high, that alone bends the ball of the foot at an unnaturally large angle, and puts an unnaturally disproportionate amount of pressure on the ball of the foot at the same time. Over time, this results in a change of the morphology of the bones in the first three toes. He clarified and said, "Just like braces, it will permanently change the shape of the bones." Example: Janice Dickson

2. If the toe of the shoe pushes toes left or right from where they would normally fall walking barefoot, that will also, "just like braces, permanently change the shape of the bones." Example: Naomi Campbell.

3. If the shoe doesn't have the proper suppert along the instep (as in nearly all pumps), and the wearer's toes are bearing the brunt of the forces, jambed up against the inside of the toe of the shoe, it will fold them over time, accordian-style, so even walking barefoot they'll be crinked at an angle. Example: Katie Holmes.

4. Combinations of 1 and 2, above, will either initiate or exacerbate bunions. Example: Iman.

5. The other combinations (1-3, and 2-3) simply result in two combinations instead of one.

6. The younger the wearer begins wearing high heels, especially if the heel is guilty of problem 1, 2, 3, or a combination thereof, the more prounced the problem will be, and particularly if the wearer's bones are still forming, which my doc said, "continues happening until we're about 25 years old."

7. The longer a wearer is in heels throughout the 16-hours people are typically on their feet each day, the worse the problem will be.

So I asked him, "What's a heel wearer to do?" He laughed and jokingly asked, "Why, do you wear heels?" before adding, "If you do wear heels, wear them as seldom as possible. The more time you spend in them, the more problems you will have. Wear one that's low to moderate height, about 3-1/2 inches max for your size foot. It needs adjustable support for your instep. A lace-up oxford or boot is good. Make sure the footbed is cushioned and follows a natural countour, supporting your foot along it's entire length. And for God's sake, don't wear heels that scrunch your toes, either sideways or straight on! That's the biggest problem I see in here!"

Then he thought for a moment and said, "I should thank the designers, though, as they've made me a lot of money."

I then asked him about wearing higher heels, for me, 4"-5" and he said, "Why on Earth would you want to do that?" before adding, "As long as you don't spend all day in them, or wear them day after day, a few hours in a higher heel every once in a while isn't going to kill you."

By now I knew that he knew I was a heel-wearer, and he came right out and asked: "Do you wear heels?"

I dodged it by asking him, "Do you get that a lot in here? Male heelers?"

He replied, "More than you might imagine."

Then I said, "Yeah. I sometimes wear heels."

He said, "As long as you keep it to 'sometimes,' you should be ok. Your foot doesn't show any signs of long-term damage of the type normally associated with wearing heels. Not going to help your ankle, though."

And that, my friends, was one of the most interesting conversations I've had all year!

Interesting conversation piece, but not practical as either heels or as swim fins.

I do like oxfords. I have two, one with 3-1/2" heels, the other with 4" heels.

Great pair of boots!

I've worn heels on connecting flights, but never originating from home or my destination. I kept running into to many people I knew who, had they seen me in heels, it would have ended my career.

I couldn't have attended, but I didn't hear about this until today. Not blaming anyone -- my fault for not checking the forum more often. Would have been nice to attend, though. Any chance of at least six months lead time on the major events?