It's The Shoes...

The Maven was stunned by a recent survey concerning women in the UK and high heels.  In the MyNews.IN article “High heels injure over 3 million women,” researchers report that women sustained injuries ranging from twisted ankles, torn tendons, fractured wrists and broken teeth. It states that a third of these women (1 million) have fallen flat on their faces!

In the 20-plus years The Mave has practiced dentistry She’s seen her fair share of trauma…and heard some interesting stories about how that trauma was sustained. But She can’t recall anyone blaming a busted out grill on their shoes.

None of the articles carrying this story cited the original research, so The Mave doesn’t know if other factors were considered. However, The Maven did find another piece of research which could explain some of these accidents.

An article in the July 2, 2010 guardian.co.uk states that 1 in 7 UK women “over the age of 16 drink more than double the recommended daily allowance of alcohol once a week.”  

(Kudos to the Brits for having an “RDA” for alcohol)

Consider this:

• ·         Current UK population: approximately 61,800,000.
• ·         Roughly half are female:  30,900,000.
• ·         The stiletto study says 3,000,000 women sustain high heeled injuries annually.  That’s about 10% of the female population. 
• ·       And…a look at the statistics from the drinking, drugging and gluttony study, one in seven women drinking too much alcohol is roughly 14%...you see where I’m going with this? 

Are the 3 million twisted ankles or 1 million busted up grillz really a shoe problem?  The Maven thinks not. Anyone who falls “flat on their face” is typically suffering from a medical issue or a blood alcohol level greater than .20.  Unimpaired individuals generally “brace” a fall with their hands or arms.

That’s probably why when asked, 60% of the injured women said they’d continue to wear high heels.


Because, it would be the rare Emergency Room patient who writes "S***faced," in answer to the question of "how accident occurred."