Electromyographic changes in muscles around the ankle and the knee joints in women accustomed to wearing high-heeled or low-heeled shoes.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate muscle activities in the muscles around the ankle and knee joints in women accustomed to wearing high-heeled or low-heeled shoes.

METHODOLOGY: Forty young women (age: 18-40 years) participated in this comparative clinical study. Twenty of the recruited subjects were accustomed to high-heeled shoes and the other half to low-heeled shoes. Electrical activities of the ankle and knee muscles in both groups with and without wearing their accustomed shoes were studied during walking.

RESULTS: Tibialis anterior and the medial gastrocnemius muscles started contraction earlier in the high-heeled shoe group. The duration of medial gastrocnemius activity and the intensity of proneus longus activity were significantly more in the high-heeled shoe group.

CONCLUSION: Wearing high-heeled shoe for a long time could result in over work of muscles such as medial gastrocnemius and proneus longus by increasing the duration or the intensity of their contractions during walking.