Women's shoes and knee osteoarthritis.

Lancet · 2001

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

We assessed whether wearing wide-heeled shoes has a similar effect on knee torque to narrow-heeled shoes by measuring the joint torques of 20 healthy women during walking. Wearing wide-heeled shoes had a 30% greater effect on peak external knee flexor torque than walking barefoot. Walking with wide-heeled and narrow-heeled shoes increased peak knee varus torque by 26% and 22%, respectively. Our findings imply that wide-heeled shoes cause abnormal forces across the patellofemoral and medial compartments of the knee, which are the typical anatomical sites for degenerative joint changes.