Courtney Conley

There's a time and a place.

But when you think about the anatomy of the foot, the widest part of your foot should be your toes.

The widest part of your foot, like your shoe?

Your foot.

Okay, yes.

Should be your toes.

So when you look at this heel, you can see how tapered the heel is.

And we have grown accustomed in our society to think that pointier the better.

Fashion over function.

And so if you were to imagine what your toes look like when they're shoved into this shoe, over time it can actually change the structure of your foot.

Think of it as like a, we call it in the book, the 24 hour shoot clock.

So if you were going out to dinner and you wanted to wear this heel, when you get home from dinner, in the book we also have a section called High Heel Rehab, where you stretch your calves, you splay your toes, you roll the bottom of the foot.

All of these things are important to help maintain function of the foot.

But if you were to wear this type of heel all day and all night, then the foot does start to change.

The other thing that happens is because the heel is so much higher than the toe,

it shortens the calf musculature.

So that's why people, women will often say, well, I feel better in a heel than I do when my foot's flat.

And it's not because the heel is better, it's because their ankle mobility is poor.

Yes.

So first, again, the wide toe box for me with footwear is a non-negotiable.