A long suffering London podiatrist has found a revolutionary formula for high-heel lovers.
Emma Supple has evolved shoe math to find a formula to help women figure out what heel size is best for them, from ballet flat to sky-high stilettos. The Perfect Heel Height (PHH) formula has taken off on social media with many shoe aficionados relieved to find their soul shoe.
Emma told The Daily Mail she noticed some of clients complaining about sore feet even when they wear flats.
“What they didn’t realise is that the structure of the ankle and the foot mean some women are naturally more comfortable with a higher heel. If you consistently wear the wrong heel height for your foot, then you are more likely to suffer discomfort,” she said. “Ballerinas are able to wear very high heels — look at how they are able to rise en pointe, with the foot at 180 degrees. Quite often I tell patients that they have dancer’s feet.”
Find your own ideal heel height with the PHH:
- Take off your shoes, sit down and hold one leg straight out in front of you, relaxing your foot
- If your foot sits naturally at a right angle to your outstretched leg and does not dangle, then you have less mobility in the talus and will be more comfortable in flat shoes than in high heels
- If the top of your foot falls forwards, in a straightish line following your leg, you are a natural heel wearer
- To find your optimum heel height, get a friend or partner to help stretch the tape measure from your heel in a straight line parallel to the floor, then place a pencil at the ball of your foot at right angles to the tape
- Reading the tape measure where it hits the pencil will give you your ideal heel height!
Emma says she wouldn’t recommend wearing more than three inch heels for day-to-day wear, even if your measurement suggests that four or five is perfect.
Meanwhile, the mystery of how to wear the highest of heels with minimal pain still goes on – we’ll report back when we figure this one out!
