Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1912 — DOCTORS DECRY HIGH HEELS [ARTICLE]

DOCTORS DECRY HIGH HEELS

French Authorities Say They Cause Weariness and Other Ills to Women. Paris.—An outcry against the present fashion of women's footwear was raised this week by the French medical faculty. "That tired feeling" of which so many women are complaining, it Is asserted, is largely due to the wearing of high heels. According to the French doctors, the unnatural position which the foot is forced to take when shod in a fashionable shoe constitutes a complete displacement of the center of gravity, and, by throwing the whole weight of the body on the forefoot, occasions a contraction of the muscles of the toes and legs Strong criticism Is also made of women who, as soon as they return home from the theater or from some social function, give way to Impulse and change their high-heeled shoes for a pair of soothing flat-soled slippers. - This remedy, it is affirmed, is rather worse than the 111 itself, for It causes the foot to pass from one extreme to the other, which in the end is bound to produce persistent suffering. Varicose veins are also given as one of the probable consequences of the high heels of fashion* In the opinion of leading French doctors, women who value their health should never wear heels higher than one inch.