Posted on 05/02/2006 10:11:26 AM PDT by randita
Posted on Tue, May. 02, 2006
For women's feet, bliss is turning to blisters
After being coddled by winter footwear, they now must suffer the indignities of warm-weather shoes.
By Tanya Barrientos Inquirer Staff Writer
Look down. There's a raw human drama taking place right now at shoe level. The annual sacrifice of women's feet.
Protected by socks and tights all winter long, coddled by boots and sneakers, the feet of females everywhere have turned tender and weak.
Each toe, each heel, each insole has become a pillow of soft pink. So vulnerable. So defenseless. And so unprepared for the cruel footwear of summer.
Slingbacks that dig.
Sandals that chafe.
Mile-high heels that rub, rub, rub.
"Oh yeah, every year, they get you right here," says 29-year-old Natalie Alesi, pointing to the corner where her strappy slide-ons touch the joint of her big toe.
Eating lunch on a sunshine-filled afternoon at JFK Plaza in Center City, Alesi says she's already suffered her first blister of the season.
"I expected it," she says.
Sores, bumps, blisters - they've become an annual rite of passage to which women have grown so accustomed they don't even complain. They simply make do, armed with bandages in their handbags, bunion cushions in their desk drawers, and blister wraps at the ready.
"I could say the best way to avoid all that would be to not wear strappy sandals," says Josephine T. DePalma, a podiatrist with a practice in Roxborough. "But I'm a woman, and I know they're going to wear them anyway."
Some women give their feet a one- or two-day break after subjecting them to new-shoe abuse, which DePalma says is good.
Others will try to doctor their shoes themselves, wrapping the most torturous areas with adhesive tape or masking tape, and cramming cushy gel inserts into particularly punishing toes and heels.
But for the most part, fashionistas just suck it up.
"It's amazing how much pain and denial women put up with," DePalma says. "Four-inch-heels with straps and pointy toes? They say, 'Oh, these are so comfortable.' Yeah, right."
Lounging on a blanket on the grass at Rittenhouse Square is 17-year-old Ariana Orvell, a junior at Masterman High School, with five of her friends.
They all have experienced the first wounds of spring.
"This one is from last week," Orvell says, displaying a nickel-size blister on the ball of her right foot. "They were wedge, strappy sandals. I wore them all day, and then I walked to Suburban Station in them."
Collectively, her friends wince.
Then, Megan Holland takes her turn. She shows the bandage currently stuck to her heel, plus the bright red spot on her left insole, and an open sore on the back side of her right ankle.
"That one," she says, pointing to the freshest abrasion, "I got last Friday, from these shoes." She lifts a pair of white flats with a strap that crisscrosses the back of the ankle.
Sure, she's still wearing them, she says. Why not?
According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), sandals, flip-flops, flats and platform heels will cause hundreds of thousands of aches and pains this spring and summer.
Tendon strain. Irritation between the toes. Ankle sprains. Arch cramps. Heel tenderness. And more.
But even the APMA knows it's futile to tell women to stay away from the latest foot fashions. Instead, the organization simply recommends that they not walk long distances in painful shoes, that they search for sandals with lower, wider heels, and that they cushion their feet with inserts for shock absorption.
Whatever. Jessie Gluck, 17, rolls her eyes at the podiatric suggestions.
"You've got to just put up with it," she says. "You've got to do it to look cute."
DePalma is well aware that's the prevalent thinking out there.
"So my advice is for them to carry moleskin in their handbags," she says. "It's better than Band-Aids, a lot more protective, and you can cut it to any size you want."
In the meantime, women such as 27-year-old Jennifer Sloane of Old City say they'll be toughening up their feet for another summer season of daily abuse.
"I wore these for the first time today," she says, showing off her 3-inch-high espadrilles. "This was the test walk." From her office at Juniper and Market Streets to Liberty Place. Three blocks.
"I made it," she says with a triumphant smile. "But they aren't going to make it to the walk home, I know that.
"That's 13 blocks. Absolutely no way."
Contact staff writer Tanya Barrientos at 215-854-5728 or tbarrientos@phillynews.com.
They make my feet cramp!
No kidding. Those were all the rage when I was in college and the noise generated by a bunch of girls walking down the linoleum halls of my dorm was incredible. Sounded like the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Surprised there hasn't been a mention of CROCs yet.
I like my Dr. Scholls....they are pink suede with rhinestones.
I don't go hiking in them, but to work or out to dinner...no problem. I used to love wearing high heels, but after surgery for bone spurs....those days are over. I even have to wear orthodic inserts in my cross trainers.
My first thought.
Amen Sister! Luckily I work in a very casual atmosphere and I can wear my Avia running shoes and be very comfortable.
I want a pair of these (Tempur-Pedic slippers): 
I tried pinging him, but no 'Dick Morris'.
He's going to be really disappointed.
OK, only barefoot feels best.
But let one man suggest we like our women barefoot, and all hell breaks loose.
SD
LOL!! My wife wears sizes 11 shoes. She can't find "Them" cute shoes in her size.
However she can wear my steel toe shoes just fine!!
Have a good one, got to go to work.
You are so right. Those were horrible! I can't even wear the flip flops. I hate the thing in the middle. All my shoes/sandals do not leave a mark...if they do...they are in the garbage.
Nah, I already told my husband I wanted to barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. He didn't agree - at least for the time being. :)
Of course it's also a fun thing to say around my lib family. My SIL (a Hillary fan) about exploded when I made a joke about wanting to be barefoot and pregnant (only half a joke really). It was funny to watch her completely overreact.
Give her a couple of diamond toe rings to wear and she'll be happy to go barefoot!
LOL. I've borrowed Mr. Mew's on occasion. His waders, too :)
I don't buy shoes anymore unless they're comfortable enough for me to stand to be in them for a whole day. As a result, I don't own much in the way of 'sexy' shoewear, but I can keep a genuine smile on my face the entire time. ;o)
Watch it, Bud, I resemble that remark! My Birkies are the most comfortable shoes I own! ;o)
Hmmmm - the only thing that I 'learned' from years of being a quasi-socialist. Birkenstock makes some really comfortable shoes and sandals.
me too. I love my crocs - they're my gardening/beach shoes of choice.
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