科学美国人60秒：生完孩子为什么脚会变大?

This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.Got a minute?

这里是《科学美国人》的60秒科学，我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。准备好了吗?

Women might expect to need new clothes after giving birth. But a bigger pair of shoes? Well, yeah. Because pregnancy can actually lengthen and widen a woman's feet. 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.

女性分娩后可能需要新衣服。那要不要一双更大的鞋呢?嗯,是的。因为怀孕实际上会使女人的脚变长变宽。这是根据《美国物理医学与康复杂志》上的一项研究得出的结论，这对很多女性来说可能并不奇怪。

Neil Segal, a rehab doc at the University of Iowa, heard that some local women had to don larger shoes after pregnancy. So he and colleagues measured the feet of 49 women during their first trimester and again five months after childbirth. 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.

爱荷华大学(University of Iowa)的康复医生尼尔·西格尔(Neil Segal)听说，当地一些女性在怀孕后不得不穿更大的鞋子。因此，他和同事测量了49名女性在怀孕前三个月和分娩后五个月的脚。事实上，近一半的女性在生完孩子后把鞋码改大了，以适应她们变长变平的脚。西格尔说，多次怀孕可能会增加这种影响。

Pregnant women produce a hormone called "relaxin," which makes the pelvis more flexible. That's good for childbirth. But the hormone can affect joints and ligaments elsewhere, like in the foot. 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. Segal's now investigating whether custom shoe inserts can protect women against that risk, and help get motherhood off on the right foot.

孕妇会产生一种叫做“松弛素”的激素，它能使骨盆更加灵活，对分娩有好处。但这种激素会影响其他部位的关节和韧带，比如脚。在“松弛素”的基础上增加孕期体重，会导致足弓永久性变平——这与老年女性的膝盖和臀部疼痛有关。目前，西格尔正在调查定制鞋垫是否能保护女性免受这种风险，帮妈妈们有个好的开始。

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

感谢收听《科学美国人》的60秒科学。克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔报道。