Ladies, do you wear high heels often? Perhaps you feel (or were told) you need them for work. Perhaps you just like the way the look with that new dress, or maybe they help your legs look longer and leaner than they do in sneakers. Whatever the reason you wear them, they are wreaking havoc on your legs and your back! In fact, did you know that heels weren’t even originally created for you? Let’s take a trip through history.
High heels were originally invented by men in Persia in the late fifteenth century. Contrary to popular belief, they were not created to make women appear more sensual, but rather for the army. Yes, that’s right, the men in the Persian army were the first to wear heals. They were created to help keep the men from slipping out of their stirrups on their saddles when they stood up to shoot their bows and arrows at enemies. High heels were never actually meant for walking.
Move a little more towards today, and you will find Louis XIV of France. He was a little on the shorter side and was rather self-conscious about this fact. He quickly adopted the heeled shoe and soon passed a law which stated that no one outside of his court was allowed to wear them. To show his status, he even had part of the shoe dyed deep red, a very expensive process in those days, and soon all of his peers wore shoes with red-bottomed heels. Remind you of another expensive product now?
Through the years, the popularity of the heel declined as it was obvious it wasn’t very practical. Eventually women began to wear them to appear more masculine and as this trend rose, the original group shied away from wearing their garment. Now, however, women are expected to wear these items almost daily. The alignment of your body begins to change over time and wearing heels consistently can do quite a bit of damage a lot quicker if you aren’t careful! As history shows, the high heel was never meant for someone to walk in, and after their use in the war for balance, they were adopted by men of high class who barely had to move around at all. So next time you’re going out for a night on the town, take a second thought for those adorable flats you saw in the back of your closet.
