High heels are sure blamed for lots of things but there’s absolutely no evidence that heels can cause headaches or migraines.
And no reason why they should.
Literally hundreds of studies have been performed to look at the effects of wearing heels on a woman’s body.
None of the medical evidence, and none of the medical experts, have ever concluded that there is a direct link between headaches and heels.
Let’s take a look at why.
Causes of headaches and migraines
If you’ve ever felt a constant pain or pressure on your forehead or the back of your head, then you may have experienced a tension headache. Tension headaches are can feel a little like your head is being squeezed like a giant pimple.
Migraines are slightly different.
You might hear headaches and migraines being used interchangeably but that isn’t quite right. A migraine is a neurological disease that often (but not always) includes severe headaches.
Those headaches often but not always involve a throbbing feeling.
There are many different causes of headaches and migraines for women.
For example, tension headaches may be caused by stress, posture, low iron, hunger and fatigue. Migraines can be caused by hormonal changes, diet, stress or exercise.
We also know that women suffer tension headaches disproportionately to men. Tension headaches are twice as common for women than men.
Women are also three times more likely to suffer migraines than men, with the hormonal trigger being one reason why this is so.
But, of all the possible causes, neither headaches nor migraines are ever caused by women wearing high heeled footwear.
Correlation does not imply causation
Of course it is still possible to get a headache when you wear heels.
Since once common cause of both headaches and migraines is stress, you may suffer a headache when you are at a stressful event in heels.
Statisticians have a phrase for this. They say that “correlation does not imply causation”.
What isn’t proven is that the shoes are doing it.
A good example of such a phenomenon is the myth from 2011 that heels triggered migraines for politician Michele Bachmann.
Just because Bachmann had heels on when she had migraines on some occasions was no reason to blame the shoes.
In conclusion, there’s no proven cause and effect relationship between slipping on a pair of stilettos and having a headache. And, we think if there was one, someone would have worked it out by now.
Whatever challenges your heels might give you, a sore head isn’t one of them!