“I don’t just have back pain.
I feel as though I’m carrying
a bomb in my lower back.”
These were the words
of one of my former clients.
Her back pain was so severe
that even sitting in a chair
had become difficult.
She lived in Hawaii,
and when she decided to come
to Paris for my private sessions,
she did not even know whether
her back would allow her
to endure the flight.
That was the condition
in which she arrived.
She had only three days
with me in Paris.
And yet, on the first day,
I did not ask her
to put on high heels.
We worked barefoot.
Before the Heels, There Is the Body
Before teaching someone
how to walk in high heels,
I need to understand
how her body moves.
Which muscles does she use
when she walks?
Which muscles are not working
as they should?
Where does she place her body?
How is her alignment organized?
Where does she compensate
without even realizing it?
With this client,
we spent the first day
working intensively
on these foundations.
Barefoot exercises.
Body position.
Alignment.
Muscular engagement.
And an entirely new awareness
of how to move the body
when walking.
This foundation
matters deeply to me.
Because without a
foundation, a correction
may last for a moment.
But over time,
the body can return
to its old patterns.
I am not interested in
creating a temporary
appearance of improvement.
I want the body
to understand.
The Back Is Not Separate
from the Rest of the Body
When someone experiences
back pain, it is natural
to focus on the back.
But through more than
5,000 private sessions,
I learned to look beyond
the place where the pain
appears.
From the tips of the toes
to the top of the head,
the body functions as
one unit.
Every connection matters.
Nothing is unnecessary.
With clients suffering from
back pain, one area I have
repeatedly found
important is the musculature
around the knees.
At first, the knees
and the abdominal muscles
may appear to have little
to do with one another.
But the body does not
function as a collection
of independent parts.
Its muscles and movement
patterns work together.
When the support around
the knees is weak,
I often observe weakness
further up the body’s
chain as well, including in the
way the abdominal
muscles support the body.
And when I speak of the
abdominal muscles,
I am not talking about building
visible abs on a fitness machine.
I am talking about the ability
to draw the abdominal
muscles upward and
use them to support the
body’s position.
When this upward support
is insufficient, the body
can unconsciously fall
backward and the lower
back can become the place
that compensates.
This is one of the patterns
I have observed repeatedly
in women who come to me
with back pain.
That is why strengthening
the muscles around the knees
can become an important part
of the work I do with them.
Why We Begin Barefoot
The exercises I used
with this client
were not conventional
fitness exercises.
They were barefoot
exercises originally
developed as a foundation
for walking in high heels.
Through them,
we worked on the muscles
required for walking,
the relationship between
the legs and the core,
and the awareness necessary
to maintain the body’s alignment
without unconsciously
arching the lower back.
Only after the body
had begun to understand
these foundations
did we move into high heels.
Because high heels
have another role.
They reveal.
High Heels Do Not
Allow the Body to Hide
For me, walking in high heels
can function almost
like a lie detector for the body.
A weakness becomes visible.
An unstable point becomes visible.
An incorrect alignment
becomes more obvious.
A compensation that may
remain almost unnoticed
when barefoot can reveal
itself immediately
once the body is placed
in high heels.
This is precisely why
I do not see high heels
only as beautiful shoes.
They are also an extraordinary
tool for observing the body.
Once a certain level of
muscular strength and body
awareness has developed,
working in high heels allows
us to go deeper.
The heels reveal
what still needs attention.
Her Body Became
Her Own Guide
By the time this client
returned to Hawaii,
something important had
changed.
It was not simply
that her back felt different.
She had begun to
understand
her own body.
Later, if she noticed
the first signs of discomfort
in her lower back,
she knew where to look.
For her, it became a signal
that the strength and awareness
around her knees
had begun to weaken again.
Instead of waiting
until the pain became severe,
she could return to the
foundations she had learned.
Her body had become
her own guide.
And the devastating
back pain
she had once lived with
no longer returned
in the same way.
For me, this is one
of the deepest purposes
of my work.
Not simply to teach
a woman how to look
beautiful in high heels.
But to help her
understand the body with
which she walks through life.
Because walking
is never just about the feet.
And pain is not always
understood by looking only
at the place where it appears.
Sometimes,
we need to look
at the entire structure.
Would you believe high heels
can help relieve back pain?
_______________________
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