Many Women's Foot Problems Can Be Traced To Shoes

Women's shoes may be an important fashion accessory, but doctors say style may come at a price.

Seventy-five percent of women who wear high heels every day say they experience regular shoe-related foot pain and suffer from bunions, arthritic big toes, calluses, hammer toes, and plantar warts, according to doctors at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Tex.

“Many women wear shoes to work every day that look great but they are simply too small,” said Dr. Pedro Cosculluela, an orthopedic surgeon with the hospital. “The biggest problems we encounter are related to the height of the heel and/or the narrowness of the toe box.”

A bad fit

The narrow toe box makes it hard for many women to properly fit their entire foot into the shoe. This poor fit can lead to toe deformities in many women.

Toe deformities can include bunions, hammertoes, and calluses. A bunion is a bump along the inside of the big toe, just before the joint. It is typically associated with deviation of the toe that is caused by external pressure from shoes that have a small toe box. With time, and ongoing improper shoe wear, the deformity and the bump become permanent and can worsen.

“As the deformity worsens, the big toe loses its ability to properly carry the load, which can lead to increase pressure along two through five. This can, in turn, lead to pain and cause hammertoes and cross-over toe deformities,” Cosculluela said. “This, and other foot problems women experience because of poor shoe wear, do not happen overnight. It’s a gradual process that can happen over a period of years.”

A bunion is forever

Once you get a bunion, you can't get rid of it. However, wearing toe pads over the bunions to prevent rubbing against the shoe will help ease the pain over the bump. Toe separators will help keep the big toe in place and ease pressure over the lesser toes, which can also alleviate pain.

In many cases surgery is recommended in order to realign the joint, and establish proper weight-bearing distribution to the foot. Surgery also alleviates the pain associated with pressure over the bump.

Women can avoid many of these problems by selecting the right shoe.

”There is a simple test to find out if your shoes will fit before you buy them. Take a pen and draw around your bare foot,” Cosculluela said. “Put the shoe over the drawing, if your toes stick out of the shoe, they are too small and you might want to try a bigger pair than will cause you much less discomfort.”