High and Mighty: Despite health risks, I am one of many women worldwide who love good high-heeled shoes

I am a typical woman: I love shoes. I really love high heels, particularly the red-soled sort (in case my nearest and dearest are thinking of Christmas presents). I believe there’s no other way to complete an outfit than by being elegantly shod.

Alas, there’s a trade-off. Few high-heel wearers escape the post-party torture of aching feet. Several hours in stilettos can result in the wincing gait of an arthritic crab. Or desperate girls braving filthy pavements for the relief of going barefoot, their instruments of torture in hand.

The soreness is due to pressure. Wearing any kind of raised heel shifts your weight forward onto the ball of the foot. The higher the heel, the more weight and pressure gets shifted forward. To counterbalance this, your knees and hips also have to push forward while your spine arches backwards. It’s not just your feet that suffer; your entire skeleton goes out of shape. This can lead to lower back and hip pain. And some very strange ways of walking.

Worse still, long-term high-heel wearing can also cause bunions, hammer toes, ingrowing toenails, shortened calf and hamstring muscles, tendinitis, stress fractures, pinched nerves, heel spurs, arthritis, and ankle twists and sprains (especially at closing time). In a nutshell, it all hurts.

Pain-Free Party Feet: Scholl’s gel insoles that help reduce the pressure on the balls of the feet of the high-heeled belles of the ball

So, will women stop wearing high heels? Don’t be ridiculous. This is the sex built to endure childbirth and a lifetime’s uterine complications. They will never be defeated by a shoe.

But they will compromise. They will wear trainers or flat shoes to work and then change into their heels. They will put their heels on in the transport to an evening’s venue. And God bless Scholl’s Party Feet, the gel inserts that absorb some of the pressure on your poor soles. I don’t go out without them.

Yet I don’t know many women who practise aftercare. Podiatrists recommend a quick massage and runner’s stretches at night to realign Achilles tendons and calf muscles. Health websites suggest bathing one’s feet in Epsom’s Salts after a night out. And I occasionally nip to the local nail bar for a commercial soak, scrub and polish.

But I had never heard of a dry pedicure by a qualified podiatrist until a friend’s recent trip to the spa at the Metropole Hotel in Monaco.

The treatment and array of surgical equipment used were remarkable. But so was the result. His City-bashed feet were literally a feat of restored health and beauty. He spent over an hour in the reclining chair, but his once tired hooves were baby soft with glassily buffed toenails and looked at least 10 years younger.

This was a treatment in the format of French Pedi-Mani-Cure maestro Bastien Gonzalez. Pricy but pedi-tastic and still evident six weeks’ later. As my delighted friend floated out of the spa, I spotted something half-familiar.

My Happy Feet: Bastien Gonzalez’s gel spacers are a workout for the toes

Like many women, I paint my toenails using sponge toe spacers to keep my toes apart to prevent the polish from smudging. For about half an hour while it dries, I leave my spacers in as a DIY bid to realign my toes. Initially a bit uncomfortable, by the end it feels rather therapeutic.

And there in the spa, I saw Bastien Gonzalez had taken this idea and made it his own. The result is Happy Feet, a set of gel toe spacers specifically designed to do what I hoped my old sponges would: make my stiletto-squashed toes straight again. Thirty-two Euros for “the essential fitness regime for tired, damaged feet”? Had to be done.

In the spirit of research, I have worn them (UK women’s size 5½) for twenty minutes and so has my friend (UK men’s size 9). We both agree they are what they claim to be on the box: a workout for the toes. You can walk, wiggle and work your bones back into shape. And the bigger the feet or longer the toes, the better the experience.

So once upon a time, the trade-off of loving high heels used to be pain. Then came gel pads. Now there are gel spacers. Now there are not just happy girls in fabulous footwear. There are fabulous girls (and guys) with Happy Feet.

The post Happy Feet appeared first on Reverse Time Machine.

Me and my MBB: top support throughout a tough workout

According to figures (no pun intended) released last September, Britain’s average bra size has risen from 36C to 36DD. Yet an estimated 80% of women wear the wrong bra size. And 40% said they don’t wear a sports bra when exercising, despite the fact that breasts can bounce up to 14cm during a workout.

All of this is rather worrying, not least for the person exercising next to you. It seems that ladies are getting bigger but don’t appear to be taking the best care of their assets.

The average woman is wearing a back size that is too big and a cup size that is too small. Such a bad fit not only has unflattering bulges of flesh and fabric, it can also lead to health problems. Symptoms include headaches, neck and breast pains, as well as breathing, circulation and skin problems, and poor posture.

According to various experts, a bra’s support should mainly come from underneath, not the shoulder straps. The band should fit snugly around the ribs without being restrictive, and sit at the same height all around the torso without riding up at the back. The cups should fit fully around each breast, and any wires lie flat to the body. It should be close fitting but comfortable. It is, after all, an undergarment, not a bear trap.

I don’t know one man who would tolerant discomfort from his underwear, so I don’t see why women should either. In contrast, a perfectly fitting bra will produce a flattering shape, accentuate your waist and boost your confidence. So ladies, get over your fears, get properly measured and get all the benefits.

As for exercise, I recommend the Dans-ez Minimal Bounce Bra.

Top shop: the MBB is available from S to XXL and in nine different colours

Speaking as a personal trainer, aerobics teacher and shapely woman who has exercised all her life, I have never liked “the bounce.” It’s uncomfortable, embarrassing, and left me wondering if I’d have breasts like spaniel’s ears by the time I was 30. Consequently, I used to wear two bras for exercise and wonder if I would see out my aerobics classes without fainting.

I shopped around and found the MBB in the dance wear section of the now-extinct Kings Road Sporting Club in Chelsea. After years of unfettered jiggling, the result was total joy.

As the name suggests, there is little or no movement in a very close fitting garment that initially takes a little getting used to. But I could breathe and move freely, and exercise hard without a care. Perfect. I have worn them ever since.

The Minimal Bounce Bra is now available online at http://www.dans-ez.com/. Check out the offers tab as there are often seasonal reductions, some of up to 50%, on the MBB and other dance and sports wear.

Look after your assets, ladies. Your figure, health and confidence are worth it.

The post The Minimal Bounce Bra for Top Gym Support appeared first on Reverse Time Machine.

But, despite the typical appearance of a retired Black Country woman, my great-aunt had one remarkable physical characteristic – the beautiful hands of a 20-year-old.

From the age of 13 until she retired at 60, Aunt Lil worked for one company: the Phillips, later Raleigh, bicycle company. She spent most of her working life in the pedal department, where the incessant noise left her with a tendency to shout.

However, almost 47 years of handling oily bike parts seems to have preserved her skin like a record-long free paraffin treatment. What’s more, unlike many of her peers, she never suffered from arthritis.

This left me thinking: what was in that oil? Was it petroleum or Lanolin based? Was it genetics, the oil, the continuous exposure to it or all three that produced such extraordinary hands? And, more importantly, could those conditions and results be replicated without the need for a factory, pedals or bike oil?

At the same time, and in complete contrast, I remembered a line from “Sex and the City” where Miranda said: “I like to put Vaseline on my hands and stick them in those Borghese conditioning gloves while watching infomercials”.

Because I had complained about parchment-dry hands at the time, I was actually given a pair of these as a Christmas present. I used them a couple of times and then lazily stuck them in the cupboard “for another time”. But now, it was time – and I put together an experiment.

Just as Aunt Lil would have done in a working week, I put my hands in a petroleum-based substance – good old-fashioned Vaseline – for eight hours a day for five days. The only time I had to do it was overnight, and so I wore the pair of purpose-designed Borghese gloves to bed. Suddenly, I was back to being seven again with chickenpox, and sleeping in mittens to stop me scratching myself.

However, after an initial night of feeling like Mickey Mouse, I soon fell into the routine of larding up like a cross-Channel swimmer, nodding off, and waking up to remove the gloves and examining the results. I was impressed.

My dry skin had become softer. The puckered knuckles had started to fill out and the joints seemed less knobbly. The skin tone was even, and no longer redder around the knuckles. My cuticles were softer and much easier to remove. Even typing seemed easier and less painful for my chapped hands. I was converted.

It also made me think about the issue of arthritis – and similar questions arose: Regardless of diet and lifestyle, did the oil, continuous exposure to it, continuously working with the fingers, or all three help maintain such youthful, healthy and pain-free hands? Could these conditions also be replicated? And could they also help someone who is already afflicted by this disease?

I shall do more research on that and let you know.

Meanwhile, the answer for me to healthier, more attractive and younger-looking hands is a pair of conditioning gloves – or even a pair of cheap cotton gloves – and a tub of Vaseline.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to do an overnight treatment, then try twenty minutes a day: on your journey to work, taking the kids to school, walking the dog, watching TV or during a cup of tea.

Great Aunt Lilian’s Guide to Beautiful Hands: Gloves + Vaseline + 20 minutes per day. No effort, little money, great result. Bargain.

And you can follow the quest for beautiful hands on Twitter @The_RTM

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