Today is the day, its your wedding day, hip hip hooray! It’s a day filled with joy, beauty
and great memories; the last thing we need is foot pain. Now I want to be fair, I’ll
attempt to tailor this article for both the bride and groom (well, this article is applied
for everyone) but of course the focus would be the ladies and their shoes.
Various cultures and customs conduct their wedding celebrations differently. My Greek,
Italian and Lebanese friends and clients start their wedding celebrations about midday
while Vietnamese weddings (which I know extremely well, cause I’m Vietnamese =))
start bright and early in the morning. My wedding and now family photographer, Dale
can vouch for that; he probably worked 17 hours straight, quite a ‘feat’!
At any formal event, everyone dresses to impress but unfortunately for some it means
that they may have to squeeze into a piece of clothing, which can and will cause
discomfort.
The make and shape of shoes come in so many varieties but brides tend to go for the
one who are going to torture them. I remember being forced to go shopping with my
wife for her wedding shoes and boy oh boy, it just didn’t make sense, why women
would put themselves in so much torture for their big day. I watched and joked with the
other ladies in the shop who were squeezing their feet in extremely narrow footwear
and high inch heels and trying to walk. Their ankles swayed side to side attempting to
stabilise the foot and ankle as well as the knees. It was painful to see.
I always tell my female clients that they looked spectacular dressed and dolled up but
then I notice (a reflex) their footwear and I cringe. All in the name of fashion!
MY STORY
Gloria and Graeme were to be wed in a few months when they first met me. Gloria had
come in to remove this painful “thing” on her right little toe space as well as the ball of
her feet. As I was removing her painful corns and calluses, they told me that they were
having their wedding ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt (!) Wow…I thought it be a
bit grim but after later seeing the pictures, it was beautiful in a dark and dramatic way.
Anyway, I explained the implications of her current callus and corn problem and how it
would impact when squeezing into her wedding shoes (we won’t name brands) and we
agreed that we would hold a wedding shoe consultation the next week.
In that session, Gloria brought her diamonties‐incrusted pointy toed 6‐INCHheels and
her dancing shoes (thankfully a 4‐inch, I believe). I almost passed out. Wow. To ensure
her haute couture dress was at the right length and height, she absolutely had to wear
those 6‐inchers ‐ most men won’t ever understand this meaningless torture. So we
trialled different forms of padding and spacers, from gel to foam to fit for the feet.
Gloria’s major locations were for the right little digit and both forefeet. Finally, Gloria’s
feet were ‘shielded’ from impending blisters and calluses, she trialled the configuration
for a couple days and returned to assess. Gloria was happy and comfy. I also
demonstrated lower leg, foot and arch stretches she could do to ease the muscular
tension as well as cryotherapy post‐wedding.
Truthfully, I was mildly disappointed that I didn’t get an invite but nevertheless, Gloria
walked out confident that she could withstand the physical demands of the hard
ground, tight shoes and the duration so that she could enjoy her Wedding. Graeme
high‐fived me on his way out, I guess saving him from a post‐wedding bride foot
massage!
It was months later they returned, this time it was for Gloria’s arch pain experienced
from wearing heels which were ‘mandatory’ in her job at a major airline. The problem
was that when she wore heels at work, her arch would be hovering in the air without
any support. If we stand on our tippy toes, our arch immediately ‘stands up’ appearing
with good height so can you imagine the arch hovering in the air while we are running
around all day? So to make a long blog short, I eventually had to make a “hook court
leather orthotic” which would fit into Gloria’s shoes that provided support for her arch.
Thereby eliminating pain from arch strain.
Phew!
THE MESSAGE
LADIES! ‐ DON’T TORTURE YOUR POOR FEET WITH HIGH HEELS!!!!
If you really have to wear the heels, come on into the Bankstown Clinic and we’ll make
your foot adapt.
“Make Health a Habit”
Grant Duong, Podiatry
At the Triumph Institute located in the heart of Bankstown, Sydney we also practice podiatry. It’s a medical field that specialises in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of problems and issues that affect the lower limbs, from the lower back right down to our feet.
