The effect of heel height on frontal plane joint moments, impact accelertion, and shock attenuation during walking

Wearing high heels alters walking kinematics and kinetics and can create potentiallyadverse effects on the body. Our purpose was to determine how heel height affects frontalplane joint moments at the hip, knee, and ankle, with a specific focus on the external kneemoment due to its importance in medial loading and knee osteoarthritis. Fifteen womencompleted overground walking trials in three different heel height conditions (1, 5, and 9 cm)for a fixed walking speed (1.3 m·s) and a preferred walking speed while kinematic and force platform data were collected concurrently. For both fixed and preferred speeds, peakexternal knee adduction moment increased systematically with an increase in heel height.Peak internal ankle eversion moment increased systematically with an increase in heelheight, and though little change was evident at the hip, peak hip abduction moment wasslightly higher for the 9 cm heel height compared to the 1 and 5 cm conditions. The higher peak external knee adduction moment with increasing heel height suggests greater medialloading at the knee, which can contribute to joint degeneration and the development of knee osteoarthritis. The kinetic changes observed at the ankle with increasing heel height maycontribute to larger medial loads at the knee. Overall, wearing high heels, particularly thosewith higher heel heights, may put individuals at greater risk for joint degeneration anddeveloping knee OA.