A varus knee moment is a compressive force on the medial part of the knee and a stretching force on the lateral part. When walking in HH the body weight shifts further medially in relation to the foot, which increases the varus moment. (Barkema et al. 2011) The varus moment increases as the height of the heel increases, according to Barkema et al. (2011), which also suggests that the use of high heels, specially heel higher than 5 cm, may lead to joint degeneration and knee osteoarthritis in the medial compartment. Similar increases in varus moments were found in a study performed by Kerrigan et al. (2001), in where the variable was wider and narrower heels. This study found no difference in the varus moments of both conditions, confirming that the parameter of importance is the height of the heel and not the heel
A varus knee moment is a compressive force on the medial part of the knee and a stretching force on the lateral part. When walking in HH the body weight shifts further medially in relation to the foot, which increases the varus moment. (Barkema et al. 2011) The varus moment increases as the height of the heel increases, according to Barkema et al. (2011), which also suggests that the use of high heels, specially heel higher than 5 cm, may lead to joint degeneration and knee osteoarthritis in the medial compartment. Similar increases in varus moments were found in a study performed by Kerrigan et al. (2001), in where the variable was wider and narrower heels. This study found no difference in the varus moments of both conditions, confirming that the parameter of importance is the height of the heel and not the heel