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If the shoe fits: development of an on-line tool to aid practitioner/patient discussions about ?healthy footwear?
Lisa Farndon, Victoria Robinson, Emily Nicholls and Wesley Vernon
Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2016 9:17

 

Toolkit:
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/podiatrytoolkit

 

Footwear is a burning issue, among other things this reference is of particular interest:

As I understand the cited paper , there are two justifications for a heel height of approximately 25 mm, "the avoidance of forefoot overload during wear" and "Achilles tendon shortening with long-term wearing of high heels". There is no reference to a research which established this particular heel height for these particular reasons, therefore I assume it's an expert opinion recommendation. I wonder is a 25 mm heel recommended as a way to avoid forefoot overload in women only or men as well? And at which age it is considered healthy for everyone in the UK to start wearing a 25 mm heel - 20? 30? 40? 50? 60 or older? Is it widely accepted to recommend one universal healthy heel height for literally everyone (every adult person, I assume)?

 

Interesting point. Have you tried emailing the correspondence contact on the paper?

Perhaps the term " healthy" is an issue. This seems to be more about guidelines for footwear, that are less likely to cause problems. Rather than "healthy" footwear. That would fit better with a 2.5cm heel block recommendation.

Though it's not specified if that's a maximum or minimum, and as you point out gender isn't mentioned.

Regards
Greg

 

Even with such a narrower interpretation this appears to be an all-embracing recommendation of one very exact heel height to address and/or prevent all possible sorts of foot problems in people of any age, gender and foot health status. To me, either healthy or 'healthy' footwear isn't an insurmountable issue for interpretation, but a one-heel-height-fits-all prescription is. I'm not a stakeholder in UK footwear habits to write to the corresponding authors, just curious in general regarding the wide acceptance of this specific heel height and the heel necessity for everyone.