The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-08-18
High Heels and Lame Backs.
A SIMPLE oURE FOR a FASHIONABLE


A reporter was made an unwilling listen
er to some feminine confidence on backache.
As all women and the greater part of their
men folks are directly or indirectly inter
ested in the subject, h reporter visited a
man of science who was named by one of
the young ladies as having cured her
trouble.
"Oh, yes said the doctor, "backache is
very common among women; more than
two-thirds of them suffer from it. But
there is one kind of this trouble, caused
by q prevailing fashion, which women
ought not to allow themselves to suffer
from"
"Are you a specialist for fashionable
backache p
The doctor laughed. 81 will tell you all
about it" said he. Three years ago a
fashionable young lady called upon me,
saying that her back was very lame, and
had been so for n considerable time; the
pain had lately 80 greatly increased that
she had become frightened about herself.
She had been Obliged to shorten her prom
enades, so she said, was almost incapable
of dancing, and her life was gradually be-
coming a burden. She had tried every
thing and taken medicine all the time,
but : then she broke down in such a
way that l began to suspect hysteria-
"She looked tired, and her face bore an
expression of pain and dependency which
was not compatible with her years-she
was about 23-nor her evidences of consti-
t~utional force, which l judged to be strong.
/ confess | was at q loss to account for her
trouble, and close questioning gave me no
indication for treatment. / at last pre-
Scribed a tOnic-on general principles
and asked her to call in about n week.
When she appeared again, a glance suficed
10 show that she was no better, and / was
much puzzled as l saw her walk up and
down the Office in nervous excitement, ex-
claiming that she would never get well,
she knew she wouldn't, etc. AS l looked,
a certain popularity in her walk led me to
think that there might be some spinal
trouble, and ] commenced a c-ross-examina-
ton, which she brought to a sudden close
by saying Why, doctor several of my
friends are suffering just as l am, but they
are not so worn out with the pain we can
not all nave spinal complaints can we ?"
II thought it impossible, of course con-
tinued the doctor, land the interview end
ed by nay asking her to call again on the
next day and bring one of her friends with
her, when | would make another effort to
discover the real cause of the trouble. ]
had, in fact, made up my min that some
peculiarly in dress was at the root of the
2 AuCulLJs II lltS Ctllcut anu hfu
hardly traversed the room before / observ-
I'd in patient number two the same lido
syncrasy in walking which l had seen in
the first patient. l was not long in discov-
ering that the real difficulty lay in the high
and tapering heels of my patients CATERS.
Closer examination revealed the fact that
there was a difference in the height of the
boot heels of the two ladies, and | found
that my first patient, who was the greater
sufferer, was the one whose CATERS possess
ed the higher heels. There was nothing
to do but to prescribe slippers and wooden
stockings for q week, to be followed by the
wearing of shoes having low, broad heels"
And it was this treatment which cured
the backache p
"All signs of lameness disappeared with
in eleven days, and my first patient of this
kind, together with many who have fol-
lowed her, regained her health and strength,
There are many physiological reasons why
undue elevation of the heel must cause
trouble. 1t will suffice to say that it serves
to throw forward the contents of the alb
domino cavity and the strain upon the
muscles, nerves and cords more or less con-
nected with or surrounding the back
are subjected to unusual STRAIN in resisting
the forward impulse. OF course, in such
cases, lame back is not of itself a disease
but only the indication of deep-seated
trouble, which is sometimes difficult to deal
with. Ladies should be warned that this
fashion in heels is certain to bring them
Don or later-great trouble. If they
must adhere to the prevailing style, they
should take care to wear slippers on every
possible occasion which the sacred duties
they owe to fashion may permit. That O
person may as well be out of the world as
out of the fashion is a law more ~inexora-
BILE in the minds of many women than
those of nature or of health"