• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2014

PURPOSE: This study researched the effects of different types of high heels on the muscles surrounding the cervical spine, the thoracic spine, and the lumbar spine by analyzing muscle activation of the paraspinal muscles during walking while wearing high heels. The high heels were all of the same height: 8cm. METHODS: The 28 subjects in this experiment were females in their 20s with a foot size of 225-230mm. To measure the muscle activation of the paraspinal muscles, EMG electrodes were attached on the paraspinal muscles around C6, T7, and L5. The muscle activation during walking while wearing 8cm high wedge heels, setback heels, and french heels was measured. The measurements were performed 3 times each and the mean value of the result was used for analysis. Two kinds of velocity were used in this study. One of the velocity was 2.5 m/s. The other was 3.5 m/s. RESULTS: The muscle activation of paraspinal muscles increased significantly according to increase of walking velocity. But there was no significant difference according to the heel types. CONCLUSION: In view of the results, the height of heels and the velocity of walking are more convincing variables than the width of the heels on the muscle activation of paraspinal muscles. So wearing high heels is not recommended for those who have pain or functional problem of cervical and lumbar vertebrae.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2013

The purpose of this research is to provide right information about deformation and to relieve fatigue of high-heels lovers. The research data includes 15 tests and survey on 71 female students. The result follows 1. Age of surveys is mostly 22, consisting 43.7% of all. The most frequently worn shoe kind is high heels that 45.1% of surveys wear 2. Female students those are 155~160cm high wear high heels most frequently, 40.8%. 3. The fatigue condition classified by hours of wearing: Surveys wearing high heels over 7 hours and 5~7 hours state starting to feel fatigue by 40.8%, 38.0% each, and the result was stastically significant 4. The appearance of pain on calf classified by hours of wearing: 35.2% of surveys answered they start to feel pain when worn high heels over 7 hours, and 33.8% of students answered 5~7 hours 5. The fatigue condition classified by kinds of shoes worn: 45.0% of the surveys felt tired when wearing high heels, 40.8% answered wearing heel inserted running shoes, and 14.0% for flat shoes. 6. The fatigue condition classified by heel height: 69.0% of survey answered they feel fatigue after wearing shoes with 5~9cm high heels, 21.1% answered under 3cm high heels, and 9.9% answered over 10cm heels(p<0.05) 7. The experience of cramp in calf cramp muscle classified by heel height: 69.0% of surveys experienced cramp when wearing 5~9cm high heels, 21.1% answered under 3cm high heels, 9.9% for over 10cm heels.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 2009

Ten young females were participated in this study to investigate the effects of types of shoes (sneakers, high heels, kill heels), types of tasks (standing, walking floor, step up and down), and areas of foot (fore foot, middle foot, rear foot) on foot pressures as well as subjective discomfort ratings. Results showed that kill heels had the most discomfort shoes, followed by high heels and sneakers. Generally, as the heel was higher, the discomfort of foot increased. For the analyses of task types, generally discomfort ratings were highest for the step down and up, followed by walking floor and standing. Especially discomfort ratings of high heels and kill heels were more evident in case of step up and step down than standing and walking floor. Standing task was rated as the lowest levels of discomfort on users' foot. Peak and mean foot pressures were also evaluated in this study. The findings represented that there was no significant differences between types of shoes in both peak and mean foot pressures. The peak pressure (82.14kPa) and mean pressure (40.32kPa) for standing task were significantly lower than those of other tasks [walking floor (190.55kPa, 55.46kPa), step up (191.43kPa, 53.80kPa), and step down (200.66kPa, 52.62kPa)]. Generally discomfort ratings and peak/mean pressures associated with foot showed that fore foot had higher discomfort ratings as well as peak and mean pressures than middle and rear foots. In particularly, this trend was more obvious in case of high heels and kill heels. For the high heels and kill heels, the peak pressures of fore foot were 4.5~4.8 times and 2.3~2.5 times greater than that of middle foot and rear foot, respectively, whereas the peak pressures of fore foot were 2.9 times and 1.7 times greater than that of middle and rear foots, respectively, in case of sneakers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 1988

The present study has been undertaken to assess the electrical activity of right tibialis anterior, right gastrocnemius, right rectus femoris, right biceps femoris and right paralumbarvertebral muscles quantitatively by EMC while standing erect on the height of 0cm, 3cm, 5cm and 7cm heels. The inclinations of the heels were 0, 6, 11, 17 degrees, respectively. Foully young women ranging from 18 to 24 of age were examined. Electrical activity of various muscles while standing erect on the height of various heels were compared with that of 0cm heel. The results obtained were as follows : 1. Electrical activity of the tibialis anterior increased significantly as the height of heels became higher ; which was thought to be due to the effort to counteract the instability standing with high heels. 2. There was a significant increase in electrical activity of the gastrocnemius as the height of heels increased. It might be due to compensatory activity against shifting of the center of gravity forward. 3. There was a significant increase .in electrical activity of the rectus femoris and biceps femoris at the height of 3cm, 5cm and 7cm heels ; which seemed to be due to the effort to stabilize the knee joint. 4. Electrical activity of the paralumbarvertebral muscles increased significantly at the height of 5cm and 7cm heels ; which was considered to be due to the effort to prevent forward imbalance. From These results, it may be concluded that electrical activities of various postural muscles increase significantly while standing erect on the height of 3cm, 5cm and 7cm heels to counteract an instability of their posture and compensate the forward shifting tendency of the center of gravity.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2013

Objective: This paper analyzes the changes on stride parameters, joint angles, and trajectories of the body parts due to high heels during walking and explains the causal relationship between the changes and high heels. Background: This study aims to indicate the comprehensive gait changes by high heels on the whole body for women wearing high heels and researchers interested in high-heeled walking. Method: The experiment was designed in which two different shoe heel heights were used for walking (1cm, 9.8cm), and twelve women participated in the test. In the experiment, 35 points on the body were tracked to extract the stride parameters, joint angles, and trajectories of the body parts. Results: Double support time increased, but stride length decreased in high-heeled walking. The knee inflexed more at stance phase and the spine rotation became more severe. The trajectories of the pelvis, the trunk and the head presented outstanding fluctuations in the vertical direction. Conclusion: The double support time and the spine rotation were changed to compensate instability by high heels. Reduced range of motion of the ankle joint influenced on the stride length, the knee flexion, and fluctuations of the body parts. Application: This study can provide an insight of the gait changes by high heels through the entire body.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.329-336
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences of the lower back pain, fatigue, and Achilles tendon thickness according to wearing and not wearing high heels in order to understand symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases caused by wearing high heels in college students. lower extremity pain fatigue and achilles tendon thickness were measured in high heel wear group (n=19) and non high heels wear group (n=23). Participants' general characteristics and the lower extremity pain, fatigue, and Achilles tendon thickness were analyzed using mean, standard deviation. Differences in lower extremity pain, fatigue, and achilles tendon thickness were analyzed by independent t-test. The results showed that the difference between the participants' lower extremity pain (t=2.28, p=.028), right achilles tendon thickness (t=2.30, p=.027) and left achilles tendon thickness (t= 3.89, p<.001) The results of this study show that convergence approach can be applied as a basis for health problems in the structure and function of musculoskeletal disorders associated with wearing high heels. In the future, follow up observation according to the wearing of high heels in the same subject will be needed.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.379-385
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare kinematics on lower limbs between stair walking with high heel and barefoot in healthy adult women. Methods: 18 healthy adult women were recruited in this study. The subjects performed stair ascent and descent with high heels and barefoot. The experiment was conducted in random order and repeated three times for each stair walking with high heels and barefoot. The movements of lower limb joints were measured and analyzed using a three-dimensional analysis system. Results: The ankle, knee, and hip flexion angles on the sagittal plane exhibited statistically significant differences between stair ascent and descent with high heels and barefoot. The pelvic forward tilt angles showed statistically significant differences only during stair ascent. The ankle inversion, hip abduction and pelvic lateral tilt angles on the frontal plane showed statistically significant differences between stair walking with high heels and barefoot. On the transverse plane, the hip rotation angles showed statistically significant differences between the high-heeled and barefoot gait during stair ascent and descent. However, the pelvic rotation angles showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Therefore, wearing high-heeled shoes during stair walking in daily life is considered to influence lower limb kinematics due to the high heel, and thus poses the risks of pain, and low stability and joint damage caused by changes in the movement of lower limb joints.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.324-328
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of change in heel height on lower extremities activity of young women on high-heeled shoes that young women prefer from more kinetic and realistic perspective as this study changes the degree of slope on a treadmill. The study subjects are 15 young and healthy women who do not have any external injuries or problem with walking and understand the purpose of this study clearly. They wore three different height of heels(1cm, 7cm, 12cm) and walked on a treadmill at a constant speed of 3km/h. EMG value of four muscles (anterior tibial muscle, gastrocnemius muscle, straight muscle of thigh, and biceps muscle of thigh) were collected when walking and the change according to the height of heels were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Multiple comparison analysis on anterior tibial muscle and heel height showed that the group with 12cm heel showed significantly high muscle activation compared to the groups with 1cm and 7cm heels. The result of this study can be used for various perspectives from inferring and mediating problems caused by wearing high heels on different ground slopes for a long time.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in movement strategies of lower limb joints depending on the type of heel during sit-to-stand. Methods: Twenty healthy females participated in this study. All subjects performed sit-to-stand three times each with three different types of heels - bare feet, 9 cm high-heeled shoes, and unstable shoes. Trails were conducted in random order. Three-dimensional motion analysis systems were used for collection and analysis of the kinematic data of lower limb movements. Results: Results of this study showed kinematic differences in pelvis, hip joints, knee joints, and ankle joints during sit-to-stand based on the type of heels. At the initial sit-to-stand, hip joint flexion, knee joint flexion, ankle joint flexion, and ankle joint inversion showed significant differences. The maximal angles of hip joint flexion, hip joint adduction, knee joint flexion, ankle joint flexion, and ankle joint inversion were significantly different, while hip joint adduction, pelvic forward tilt, hip joint rotation, knee joint flexion, ankle joint flexion, and ankle joint inversion differed significantly during the terminal of sit-to-stand. Conclusion: Therefore, the type of heel played an important role in selection of lower limb movements during sit-to-stand which were essential parts of daily life movements.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.127-133
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of using external kinesio-tape wrapping for inner arch support on the lower extremity EMG for gait in stiletto heels. Methods: Subjects for this study were two female college students who had been wearing stiletto heels almost every day of the week for more than three years. The independent variable was the presence or absence of kinesio-tape wrap for inner arch support. Dependent variables were EMG readings for the four muscle groups: the medial and lateral gastrocnemius, the tibialis anterior, and the peroneus longus. EMG readings were taken using the NORAXON (USA). The Paired t-test within the subject repeated measure design for the presence and absence of inner arch support (p<0.05) was used via SPSS 18.0. Results: With kinesio-tape wrap for inner arch support, there was a statistically significant decrease in the muscle force mean values for the peroneus longus and the medial and lateral gastrocnemius, in the maximum muscle forces of the peroneus longus and the lateral gastrocnemius. Conclusion: External kinesio-tape wrapping for inner arch support in stiletto heels could have an effect to reduce peroneus longus, and medial/lateral gastrocnemius activities that could result in decreased fatigue and discomfort.