I recently read an article that promised high heel wearers freedom from the everlasting pain associated with their favorite shoe. A product, taking form of a liquid spray, called Heel No Pain by a company called Biochemistry sets out to reduce the pain that comes with wearing a stiletto-high shoe. The product claims that upon spraying the product to the balls and heels of the feet, the wearer would feel instant relief within 15-20 minutes. I, of course, was immediately skeptical about these claims so I looked more about heel pain and pain in general.
I found that stimuli that cause pain are regulated by nociceptors and converted into nerve impulses in the brain. Nociceptors detect potentially harmful situations in their surrounding tissues. They are located throughout the body in the skin, internal organs, joints, muscles and tendons. Nociceptors fire signals through an ascending pathway to the brain when damage is detected, sending pain signals to the spinal cord and the brain. A reaction is then observed via signaling through the descending pathway.
In observing the pain caused by wearing high heels it is not so much the pain felt from the skin, where the product directly makes contact, as the pain felt from the bones of the feet. When wearing high-heeled shoes, the body adapts an unusual conformation and then puts more strain on the joints of the feet. Although I don’t personally believe this spray can do much to cure the pain caused by high-heels, biochemistry is certainly on its way.