My Stilettos are making me pee a little?

Did you know those beautiful, pointy-toed, three-inch wonder-pumps you just bought could also contribute to pelvic floor imbalance, causing symptoms such as urinary incontinence? Yes, high heels can be gorgeous and show off those lovely gams - but they can also be a problem for your posture, the balance of your pelvis, your muscles (feet, legs, hips, back etc.), and your spine.

The problem is in the change to our posture and everything we have to do to compensate for it. High heels shorten our calves and put us in a constant state of falling forward. In order to accommodate for that, the normal, gentle “S” curve from the base of the skull down to the tailbone is exaggerated. You then need to stick out your chest, pull your shoulders back and keep your knees and hips slightly bent to achieve your normal straight up-and-down alignment. 

In order to stop the body from actually falling-forward fully, the abdominal and gluteal muscles are tightened and held engaged in order to stabilize the forward-leaning posture. Maybe this is good for accentuating some lovely curves, but this full-body workout could be causing damage to your pelvic floor. 

When the abdominal muscles are held too tightly for too long, they are actually overtraining the pelvic floor muscles. And that does not favour correct functioning or balance of the pelvis, which in turn could cause a myriad of issues including incontinence.

The key to regaining your normal posture is gentle stretching, achieving muscle and structural balance through manual therapies such as regular massage, having a better plan for wearing high heels if you chose to wear them, and getting quality footwear for your own individual foot type.

When is your next massage?

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