American Women Bind Feet by Wearing Too Small Shoes
Could these docs walk a mile in their patients’ shoes?
It wasn’t that long ago (before we were all saved by
political correctness) when you could open the pages of a
magazine like National Geographic and marvel at the pictures
of people from other parts of the world who did bizarre,
sometimes debilitating things to their bodies in the name
their own culture’s vision of beauty. From giant plates
implanted in the lips to systematically extending women’s
necks with metal rings to binding of the feet to keep them
small and dainty
We’re not like that here, though. Right? Not in America!
Wrong. According to recent article in the New York Times, a 1990s study showed that 9 out of 10 women wear shoes that are up to 2 sizes too narrow, in effect “binding” the feet.
This trend has resulted in the need for an alarming (and
rapidly increasing) number of women to seek surgery to
correct bunions, claw- and hammer-toes, and other serious
podiatric conditions that are directly caused by ill-fitting
shoes.
What’s even more bizarre is this: An increasing number of
women (up to 40% more over the last 3 years, according to
one doctor’s estimate) are electing to undergo cosmetic
surgery to their feet – including such procedures as toe
shortening (!) and collagen injections – in order to wear
today’s most fashionable footwear.
Yes, instead of cutting shoes to fit our feet, we’re cutting
our feet to fit our shoes!
But not all of these shoe- and surgery-obsessed women are
rewarded with dainty Cinderella-feet that’ll slip into the
sexiest of modern footwear. No, a goodly number of them end
up permanently hobbled by failed procedures, according to
the Times article. In fact, the piece maintains that the
majority of the orthopedists and podiatrists comprising the
anti-cosmetic-foot-surgery American Orthopaedic Foot and
Ankle Society claimed to have treated such patients in the
recent past.
Why is this happening, you ask? For two reasons: Fashion and
Profit. On the fashion end of things, shoe designers are
making footwear that’s more and more sleek and sexy, but
less and less wearable. As for the profit angle, cosmetic
foot surgery is a cash-only business – it’s not covered by
insurance or Medicaid. That means it’s far more profitable
for doctors than anything subject to managed-care regulation
(not that I like that either).
Put these things together and you’ve got a women’s health
disaster of epidemic proportions. Today, women have 94% of
the bunion surgeries in this country, and 80% of foot
surgeries overall. And that’s not to mention all the knee,
hip, and back procedures that have no doubt been caused by
poor-fitting shoes
My advice? Wear what’s comfortable on your feet, girls.
You’re far sexier walking and dancing than wincing in pain.
***********************************************
“Stretched” to the breaking point
As you may remember, a few months ago I wrote to you about
the boom in obesity-related products and services in this
country (Daily Dose, 11/19) – about how catering to the fat
and out-of-shape has become an American enterprise of
mammoth proportions (no wordplay intended).
Not all of the new products developed to cater to the obese
are entrepreneurial in nature, however. Some, at least, are
by virtue of necessity. In the prior piece, I made brief
reference to the increased demand for “piano-case” sized
coffins that could accommodate our ever-ballooning corpses.
Now, stretchers join the list of medical-related products
that have become “super-sized” in response to America’s
waxing waistlines.
Apparently, the specter of liability in the event of a
broken stretcher (or in the event an outsized patient should
spill off of one) has caused medical equipment makers to
issue larger, heavier, and better reinforced models that can
accommodate up to 600 lbs. instead of the current industry
standard of 350 pounds
But what I want to know is this: How can two people – even a
pair of the healthiest, most physically fit EMS workers -
manage any stretcher with more than a quarter-ton of human
lard on it? And even if they could, how do they keep from
getting hurt themselves? Talk about liability
I guess they’re making these bigger, better stretchers with
extra grab handles for four, or even six, to help tote the
extra weight, huh?
At last count, (a RAND corporation study released last
fall), Americans who are extremely obese – that’s more than
100 lbs. overweight – has quadrupled in the last 20 years to
reach 4 million people, or one in 50 of us.
That’s a lot of stretchers. Coffins, too.
Never stretching the truth,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
