Here's "Heels" to Your Health

By Pat Scales, Guest Blogger

Last week Stana posted a blog entry along with a link about a British study that explained how wearing heels was helpful for women, especially older women, to maintain their sense of balance. Because wearing heels reinforces muscle memory and requires a good sense of balance, the practice of wearing heels served to help heel wearers to generally keep a better sense of balance. The end result was a significant decrease in falls.

The premise is that balance requires the brain to process a vast amount of information from various conscious and sub-conscious sources and that wearing heels challenges those internal brain mechanisms that over time helps maintain a better sense of balance. One of the major problems with aging is falling with fractured hips or other untoward consequences. As such, improving balance by wearing heels is consistent with good health and could even save someone for a severe injury or premature death. The study concluded that women's sense of balance deteriorates if they stop wearing heels.

I can also advise of other health advantages of wearing heels. About 30 years ago, I suffered a bad fall when a ladder broke and I dropped about eight feet. I suffered herniated and bulging disks through my entire lower back. At the time, skiing was a favorite sport, but for two years after the fall, I did not ski.

Finally, I decided to risk a day sliding down a snowy mountain. Amazingly, after a day in ski boots, my back felt much better. After a few more outings I realized that the ski boot raised my heel and pressed my knees forward. This position change, identical to that of wearing heels, served to change the architecture of my low back and alleviated the stress on this part of my body.

I found that by wearing heels as often as possible, I was able to control and eliminate much of my lower back pain. Standing flat footed, such as in line or just hanging around with others, resulted in a weak and painful back. My solution is to wear heels to help back pain.

From time to time, I also suffer from heel spurs (plantar fasciitis).  Typical treatment would be a painful shot of cortisone, but this cannot be done too often. My podiatrist said that in addition to doing exercises, I should wear shoes with a heel. He suggested 1.5 to 2 inches.

While most of my guy shoes are still pretty flat, I do wear my 3-inch pumps as often as possible and they have a wonderfully positive effect of my heel spur pain. My heel spurs do not hurt while wearing high heels and for a considerable period  of time after taking off my heels. Being flat footed or wearing flat shoes is bad for my heel spur pain.

Finally, I am happy to report that wearing high heels can help with constipation. After the hideous stunt by Kathy Griffin of holding up a bloody, fake head to simulate the decapitation of President Trump, there was some publicity about her being dropped as the spokeswoman of "Squatty Potty." While I do have to deal with occasional bouts of constipation, I was not aware of the healthful benefits of the Squatty Potty. After the Griffin gaffe, I checked out Squatty Potty, which claims to "...make your bad poops good and your good poops great."

The theory is that squatting to poop (as is the practice in many parts of the world which do not use elevated toilet seats) "reduces strain by relaxing the the puborectalis muscle and unkinking your colon. The Squatty Potty puts you into a natural squatting position for better elimination."

When I looked at the photo of the Squatty Potty in use, I realized that all it really did was raise the foot 4 to 6 inches and I determined I could achieve the same result with a pair of high heels. The solution was obvious. I could send $25 to $30 to Squatty Potty or I could use the money to buy another pair of heels. I thought this was an ingenious justification for the purchase of another pair of heels.

Many of us have wives who love us, but fear and worry about our dressing habits. Perhaps educating them about the health benefits of wearing high heels would help them see the benefits of having a crossdressing husband.

As noted above ,I do suffer from back pain from time to time. The doctor and the chiropractor have both provided me with back braces. For the most part they stay in the closet since I prefer girdles, corsets and shapewear. I find that I get more relief and certainly more enjoyment wearing my feminine shaping garments than the orthopedic braces. I also find that wearing a corset or girdle helps me cut down on my food consumption.

I suspect that there are other health benefits of dressing as a woman, but these are ones that work for me both for the physical benefits noted above and for helping my wife accept and have a more positive outlook towards my preferred style of attire.

Wearing Veronica Beard (Source: Veronica Beard)

Du Jiang femulates in the 2016 Chinese film Mr. High Heels.