“Beauty is pain.” That’s what we’ve grown up hearing from our moms and older sisters as we plucked our eyebrows, shimmied into Spanx, and put on high heels to look our very best. Well, it turns out the saying didn’t quite go far enough. Research now shows that, in the case of our high heels, the saying really should be “Beauty is pain and also permanent physical damage.”
Your feet are killing you, and no, that’s not just referencing what you say after dancing on a table in stilettos all night. We all know that heels put pressure on your toes and give you the callouses and blisters your nail tech always sneers at. What we didn’t know is that the damage from heels doesn’t stop there.
Wearing heels actually physically changes the way the tendons in your calf function. While you’re appearing taller, your calf muscles are getting shorter, making your ankles less flexible and making you more prone to injury. Your kneecaps also take a much larger amount of pressure, weakening the bones in your knees and calves, making you much more likely to develop osteoporosis early.
Scientists recommend fixes for this problem – wearing kitten heels or starting out in flats and changing into your heels for the event only. In girl speak, Dr. Chu recommends doing what ugly girls do. Thanks, but no thanks, doctor – even if I have to have both legs surgically removed, I will NOT take my heels off at the bar. Am I going to throw away my heels after this? Absolutely not. Am I going to complain about it and wear them anyway? Definitely. I’ll go ahead and reserve my Hoverround now, because my mom told me “beauty is pain,” and mom is ALWAYS right..
[via TIME]
Image via Shutterstock
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RecruitmentChairTSM
RecruitmentChairTSM (@TheRecruitChair) is a contributing writer for Total Sorority Move. This current grad student and ex-sorority girl survives solely on Diet Coke and the tears of the pledges she personally victimized. She's a Monica, a Marnie, a Miranda, and a Regina. Her favorite hobbies include drinking $14 bottles of wine and binge-watching season 2 of Grey's Anatomy until she cries. You can send her annoying e-mails at RecruitChairTSM@gmail.com
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