High Heels May Be Damaging Your Vocal Chords
[Photo: Getty]
It turns out high heels aren’t just be painful and really, really bad for your feet, they might also be damaging your vocal chords.
A leading voice and communications coach told Parliament that killer heels can result in faster, shallow breathing which can put strain on your vocal chords.
Helen Sewell, who is also a BBC journalism trainer, told MPs that people who wear heels at work can find it more difficult to project an “executive presence” because they are subconsciously distracted by trying to stay upright in an unnatural posture.
The coach said that wearing heels “makes you think less clearly by adversely affecting your breathing pattern [and] prevents you from projecting your voice properly, forcing you to compensate in ways which risk causing vocal cord damage”.
[Photo: Getty]
Sewell also claimed that inappropriate shoes cost British businesses £260 million per year because women have to take sick leave for injuries caused by heels.
The trainer’s advice was given in written evidence to a Petitions Committee inquiry investigating dress codes in the workplace. This follows a 150,000-strong petition calling for it be made illegal to force women to wear heels to work. The campaign was started by Nicola Thorp, who was sent home from her temping job for refusing to wear heels.
Sewell added: “As men are not required to wear high heels to work, employers who require female staff to wear them are therefore acting in a discriminatory manner.”
The voice coach warned that heels could result in a “generation of women with serious health problems”. Ouch.
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