High heels on human stability and plantar pressure distribution: Effects of heel height and shoe wearing experience

Abstract

Many women wear high heeled shoes (HHS) on a daily basis to increase the femininity and attractiveness, making these shoes remain popular despite the negative effects surrounding HHS. This study aimed to investigate the effects of HHS wearing experience and heel height on human stability and foot plantar pressure distribution. Thirty young healthy women consisted of two groups, inexperienced and experienced high-heel wearers, participated in a standing balance test to measure their foot plantar pressures and stability limits when they wore shoes of four different heel heights: 0cm (flat), 4cm (low), 7cm (medium), and 10cm (high). Experimental results showed that the increased heel height shifted the force and peak pressure from the rear foot and mid foot regions to the forefoot and toe regions and the center-of-pressure location moved towards medial anterior side of the foot. Human stability limits were worsened significantly with the increased heel height, especially when it reached 7cm. HHS wearing experience provided certain advantages to the wearers on plantar pressure distributions and the limits of stability, shown by more appropriate pressure distributions and larger excursions and better directional controls in the forward and back directions.