Running in high-heels may lead to knee problems later in life

A new study has said that if you run a lot in high-heeled footwear you could be storing up knee problems for later in life.

9 out of 10 wearers of high-heels report associated soreness, fatigue, numbness and bunions when wearing such footwear.

Yaodong Gu, Yan Zhang and Wenwen Shen of the Faculty of Sports Science, at Ningbo University, in Zhejiang, China, have shown that there are long-term risks for wearers of high-heels who find themselves regularly having to run.

The team measured the hip and ankle movements in young women running in different types of footwear - flat shoes heel (15 mm heel), low heel (45 mm) and high heels (70 mm).

They observed an increased motion of range of knee abduction-adduction and hip flexion-extension while the volunteers where running in high heels.

This, they explain, could induce high loading forces on knee joints. Moreover, they observed a decrease in ankle movement and inversion while running that correlated with heel height, which would be linked to a greater risk of sprain.

The researchers suggest that the higher the heel the greater the risk of an ankle sprain if running.

A study has been published in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.