Shoe fashion and styles come and go, but a lifetime of wearing comfortable shoes is one of the best preventive measures you can take to ensure your mobility, healthy back and nerves according to general practitioner, Dr Olekantse Kakabe. In fact, he warns that you may be doing a shoe-icide because of the type of shoes you are wearing since there are several health complications that can arise from wearing a very high heel, pointed or ill-fitting shoes. Ankle sprains, chronic pain that can lead to nerve damage are some of the woes today’s footwear.

According to Alakanani Chibua, a physiotherapist at Physique Centre, wearing high heeled shoes changes the position around which the force of gravity appears to act. When heel height increases, the location of the centre of gravity is elevated which decreases body stability.

Chibua says, “This increases the sway of the back during movement to maintain balance and therefore causes an arch in the back and a thrust of the chest, pelvis, and posterior. These in the long run cause back pain.”