New Moms May Need New Shoes

Women might expect to need new clothes after giving birth. 

女人會期待生產後買新衣。

But a bigger pair of shoes? Well, yeah. Because pregnancy can actually lengthen and widen a woman's feet. 

但是大一點的鞋子呢？因為懷孕會讓女人的腳變長變寬。

That’s according to a study in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation that’s probably not a surprise to a lot of women. [Neil A. Segal et al., Pregnancy Leads to Lasting Changes in Foot Structure]

在American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation發表，結果應該不會讓女人感到意外（台語就是男生大到當兵，女生大到懷孕xdddd）

Neil Segal, a rehab doc at the University of Iowa, heard that some local women had to don larger shoes after pregnancy.

Neil Segal復健師任教於Iowa大學，聽到當地女性產後穿比較大的鞋子。

 So he and colleagues measured the feet of 49 women during their first trimester and again five months after childbirth.

他和同事測量49個婦女的腳從前三個月到他們產後5個月的尺寸。

 Indeed, nearly half the women went up a shoe size after childbirth, to accommodate their longer, flatter feet. And multiple pregnancies may add to that effect, Segal says.

的確，將近一半的婦女產後都穿上較大的鞋子，容納他們變長變大的腳。多數懷孕者也有這樣的情形。

Pregnant women produce a hormone called "relaxin," which makes the pelvis more flexible. 

懷孕的婦女會分泌荷爾蒙"relaxin"，讓骨盆更有彈性。

That's good for childbirth. But the hormone can affect joints and ligaments elsewhere, like in the foot. 

這有助於生產。但是荷爾蒙也會影響關節和其他韌帶，像是腳。

Adding pregnancy weight to that flexibility can lead to permanent flattening of the foot's arch—associated with knee and hip pain in older women.

懷孕的重量，產生彈性後會讓足弓永久的扁平、膝蓋和髖關節在老年石疼痛。

 Segal's now investigating whether custom shoe inserts can protect women against that risk, and help get motherhood off on the right foot.

Segal's 正在跳查是否穿上制定的鞋子能夠保護女人避免這個風險，幫助母親恢復原來的腳。

—Christopher Intagliata