高跟鞋與關節炎的愛恨情仇

Fears that wearing high-heeled shoes could lead to knee arthritis are unfounded, say researchers.

研究人員稱，因擔心穿高跟鞋可能導致膝蓋關節炎而產生的恐懼是毫無根據的。

But being overweight, smoking, and having a previous knee injury does increase the risk, the team from Oxford Brookes University found they looked at more than 100 women aged between 50 and 70 waiting for knee surgery, and found that choice of shoes was not a factor.

來自牛津布魯克斯大學的研究小組發現，超重、吸菸和過往膝蓋受傷確實增加了得膝蓋關節炎的風險，他們對100多名在等待膝蓋手術的，年齡50至70歲之間的女性進行了調查，發現鞋子的選擇並不是導致關節炎的原因。

More than 2% of the population aged over 55 suffers extreme pain as a result of osteoarthritis of the knee. The condition is twice as common in 65-year-old women as it is in men the same age.

55歲以上的人群中有超過2%的人忍受著膝蓋關節炎帶來的極度痛苦。這種情況在65歲的女性中發生的機率是同齡男性的兩倍。

Women’s and men’s knees are not biologically different, so the researchers wanted to find out why twice as many women as men develop osteoarthritis in the joint. Some researchers have speculated that high-heeled shoes may be to blame.

女性和男性的膝蓋在生理上並沒有什麼不同，所以研究人員想知道是什麼導致了患關節炎的女性人數會是男性的兩倍。有研究者推測高跟鞋可能是罪魁禍首。

The women in the study were quizzed on details of their height and weight when they left school, between 36 and 40 and between 51 and 55. They were asked about injuries, their jobs, smoking and use of contraceptive hormones.

參加該項研究的女性被詳細詢問了她們在畢業時、在36到40歲之間以及在51到55歲之間的身高和體重。研究人員還詢問了她們的受傷、工作、吸菸和使用避孕激素的情況。

However, while many of these factors were linked to an increased risk over the years, tottering around in high heels for years was not.

雖然多年來，上述的許多因素都與增加患上膝蓋關節炎的風險有關，但是常年穿著高跟鞋走路並不是原因之一。