High Heels and Your Spine

Dr. Joe’s Power On Podcast from Sheppard Chiropractic, Episode 44.

This episode explains how high heels affect the body from a chiropractic and biomechanics perspective, focusing on posture, spinal alignment, and long-term musculoskeletal stress.

Dr. Joe Sheppard describes the body as a connected chain, where changes at the feet influence the ankles, knees, hips, spine, and even the neck. Wearing high heels shifts the body’s center of gravity forward, forcing compensations such as increased low back arch, pelvic tilt, and forward head posture to maintain balance.

He explains that these changes can place extra stress on the lower back, joints, discs, knees, and surrounding muscles. Over time, this may contribute to tightness, pain, fatigue, and postural imbalance especially after long periods of standing or events like weddings.

The episode also highlights that high heels don’t just affect the lower body. Compensation patterns can travel upward, leading to neck tension, shoulder tightness, headaches, and mid-back stiffness. The feet themselves also experience increased pressure, which can lead to fatigue, bunions, tight calves, and balance issues.

Dr. Joe emphasizes that wearing heels occasionally is generally fine, but problems arise with frequent or prolonged use combined with other stressors like poor posture, sitting, and weak core strength.

He offers practical tips such as limiting time in heels, stretching calves and hips, strengthening the core and glutes, alternating footwear, and considering chiropractic care to address spinal alignment and tension patterns.

Overall, the message is that high heels can significantly influence posture and spinal health over time, but awareness and simple habits can help reduce strain while still allowing people to wear them.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In the time it takes you to get home, work, or play, Dr. Joe's podcast will inform and educate you on chiropractic, nutrition, and fitness, keeping you and your family up to date on current products, health tips, and optimized living with chiropractic care. And here's your host, Dr. Joe Shepherd.

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Hello everyone. My name is Dr. Joe Shepard from Shepard Chiropractic. Today on Dr. Joe's Power On Podcast, episode number 44, we're talking about a topic that has literally elevated fashion for decades. High heels. Now, before anybody gets nervous, this is not an anti-high heel episode. No one's coming to confiscate your favorite shoes. This is simply a fun and educational conversation about what happens to your spine and posture when you wear heels regularly. Because from a chiropractic standpoint, your feet are your foundation. And when your foundation changes, everything above it has to adapt. So today we're going to talk about what high heels actually do to your posture, why your back starts yelling at you after weddings, how heels affect your knees, hips, ankles, neck, and nervous system, and what you can do to protect your spine while still looking stylish. So kick off your shoes, preferably not with your feet screaming in pain. Take a deep breath, maybe roll your shoulders back, and let's get aligned together. Okay, the body is built like a chain. One of the easiest ways to understand chiropractic is to think of the body as one giant connected chain. Nothing works alone. Your feet affect your ankles, your ankles affect your knees, your knees affect your hips, your hips affect your spine, and your spine affects your nervous system. So when you change one thing at the bottom, like raising the heel of your shoe several inches, the entire body has to compensate. And your body will compensate. And what it does, the problem is these compensations can eventually create stress, tension, imbalance, and discomfort. High heels basically force your body into a posture it wasn't naturally designed to maintain for long periods of time. Now, can your body handle it occasionally? Sure. But every weekend for years, or every day to work, that's where things can start adding up quickly. So what happens when you wear high heels? Let's break it down exactly what happens biomechanically. When you put on high heels, your center of gravity shifts forward. Immediately your body says, uh oh, we're falling forward. So your body compensates, your low back arches more, your pelvis tilts forward, your upper body changes position, and your head often moves forward to balance everything out. It's kind of like a domino effect. And here's the funny thing: people don't usually notice this happening because your body is very good at adapting. Until one day your back tightens up, your neck hurts, your hips feel uneven, your calves are really stiff, and your feet feel like they ran a marathon after a dinner party. That's when people realize something is off. You know, and your low back takes a beating. One of the biggest areas affected by heels is the lower back. When the heel is elevated, the lumbar spine or your back tends to increase its curve. Now your spine has its curves that are natural. That's normal and healthy. But exaggerating that curve puts extra stress on the joints, the muscles, the ligaments, in the discs in your lower back. So if somebody already has tight muscles, a weak core, disc issues, or even spinal misalignments, high heels can magnify these problems much worse. And this is why after a long event, people often say, My back is killing me, especially after a wedding. Weddings are basically endurance events in disguise. You stand for the ceremony, you stand for pictures, stand during the cocktail hour, dance for hours and hours, and somehow everyone acts surprised when their spine filed a complaint the next morning and you have difficulty getting out of bed. And it's not just the back. Now, here's where it gets very interesting. Most people think heels only affect the feet or the lower back. But from a chiropractic perspective, we often see effects all the way up to the spine. When posture changes at the bottom, the neck often compensates at the top. That forward head posture, well, that's a huge issue. For every inch your head moves forward, it increases the stress on the necks dramatically. So now you've got tight shoulders, neck tension, headaches, mid-back and shoulder stiffness. All because the body is trying to maintain balance. And don't forget those knees, you know. High heels increase pressure on the front of the knee joint. So people with knee discomfort may have noticed problems that flare up after prolonged heel use. Your body is basically doing engineering calculations all day, trying to keep you upright. And eventually the muscles say, we deserve overtime pay. And that's when you start to feel it. The foot foundation. Let's give your feet some respect here, too. Your feet are incredible, 26 bones, 33 joints, over a hundred muscle tendon, and ligaments. They're designed to absorb shock and create stability. But high heels shift a huge percentage of your body weight onto the front of your foot. That increased pressure can contribute to foot fatigue, to crowding, tight calves, plantar fascia irritation, bunions, balance issues. And here's something people don't always connect. Tight calves from the heel use can actually pull on your posture higher up the chain. Again, everything is connected. That's that domino effect. Does it mean you can never wear heels? No, absolutely not. And this is where people think chiropractors are about to say, throw away every style of shoe immediately. Nope, not saying that. This is about awareness and balance. Occasional use is very different from daily prolonged use. Your body can tolerate a lot when you move well, stretch regularly, maintain strength, and keep your spine functioning at its best. The problem is, is when stress stacks up on top of stress, which includes bad posture, long hours of sitting, weak core muscles, stress, poor posture, poor sleep, then this adds up all the way to the top. It's no surprise the body starts waving that white flag. So how do you help your spine if you wear heels? This is what you can do. Okay, limit the duration. Maybe don't wear them for 12 straight hours if possible. Your spine will actually thank you personally. Stretch your calves and hips. This is huge. Heel wearers often develop tight calves and in their hip flexors also. Stretching can help restore better movement and posture with that. Strengthen your core and your glutes. You know, your core and your glutes are stabilizing your posture. So it will reduce stress on your lower back if you work on those. Alternate your footwear. If you're commuting, you know, traveling or walking a long distance, switch to supportive shoes when you can. And number the last one, get checked by a chiropractor. You know, chiropractic care focuses on spinal alignment, movement, and optimal nervous system function. So if your body has developed some compensation problems or restrictions, tension from repetitive stress, specific chiropractic adjustments can help improve mobility and function. And at the end of the day, this isn't just about high heels. It is about understanding how daily habits affect your body over time. You know, your posture matters, your movement matters, your spinal health matters. The body is incredibly adaptable, but that doesn't mean it should constantly operate under unnecessary stress. Small habits done repeatedly create long-term patterns. And sometimes these little changes can make a big difference in your life. All right, everyone, that wraps up today's episode of Shepherd's Chiropractic Power On Podcast. Hopefully now, the next time you see a pair of high heels, you'll think, oh yes, lumbar's curved mechanics, which probably makes it very fun at parties, right? Yeah. Well, if you're dealing with back pain, neck tension, posture issues, headaches, or stiffness, Shepherd Chiropractic would love to help. If you've enjoyed this episode, share with someone whose shoes are stylus, but whose spine may be filing some complaints. And as always, with that in mind, I look forward to speaking with you on our next visit. I appreciate you taking your time to listen to me on your busy home, school, or work schedule. And if I've always said, it's easier to build a child's future than repair an adult. Have a great week and thanks for listening.

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Thanks for joining us in this episode of Dr. Joe's Podcast. Discover more insights on chiropractic, nutrition, and fitness on next week's episode and at Shepherdchiroptic.com.