Returning to the Office — A Most Unusual Problem

For the last few months we’ve been slowing returning to our pre-pandemic offices. Some of us full time, some of us part time.

The transition out of the office and to our home offices was difficult. Coming back has been difficult, too. For white-collar worker women — and this is the unusual problem from the headline — it has been particularly difficult.

During the pandemic, most working from home did so in flat-soled sneakers, or shoes that are comfortable. Returning to the professional workplace often means wearing high heels, or shoes that aren’t quite as comfortable as those old tennies.

Two or so years of non-high heel wear — says Maria Branca of the New York State Podiatric Medical Association — has led to plantar fasciitis and shin splints.

“The body doesn’t like any kind of abrupt change,” she said. “Whenever you’re forced to do something all at once, suddenly you’re going back to the office, and now you’re wearing these shoes you haven’t worn in two years, that’s really like asking for trouble.”