Pregnancy Permanently Changes Women's Foot Structure

It is a known fact that pregnancy changes a woman's body structure. But does it change the size and shape of her feet permanently?  A team of researchers from University of Iowa have some evidence to prove this.

It is probably impossible to find any woman in the world who does not love shoes. The love often turns into an obsession, leading to a huge collection of footwear. However, after giving birth, most women struggle to get back into their favorite shoes. Celebrity moms Jennifer Lopez and Kristin Cavallari were in the news last year for experiencing similar problems.

Efforts have been going on from a long time to find out the exact factors that lead to this occurrence.  A team of University of Iowa researchers led by Neil Segal initiated to analyze the flat feet problems experienced by women during pregnancy. They included 49 pregnant women. Static and dynamic arch measurements of the participants during the first trimester and after pregnancy (five months after giving birth) were collected and recorded.

Researchers found the extra weight and laxity, or increased looseness of joints, flattening the arch of the foot during pregnancy.  Feet length and width increased in more than 60 percent of the participants. Compared to pregnancy, arch height and measures of arch rigidity decreased after giving birth.

"I had heard women reporting changes in their shoe size with pregnancy, but found nothing about that in medical journals or textbooks,"  Segal said in a news release. "In order to study this more scientifically, we measured women's feet at the beginning of their pregnancy and five months after delivery. We found that pregnancy does indeed lead to permanent changes in the feet."

However, according to the researchers, the changes occur only in the first pregnancy and one's foot structure does not change during subsequent pregnancies.

Using their findings, the researchers are planning to examine the consequences of foot changes on women's health.

"We know that women, and especially women who have had children, are disproportionately affected by musculoskeletal disorders," Segal said. "It is possible that these foot changes that occur during pregnancy may help explain why, in comparison with men, women are at higher risk for pain or arthritis in their feet, knees, hips and spines."

The findings of the study have been reported in the March issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.