My feet hurt. I know that other women's feet hurt too. Usually when I go to a party there's a chance I'll hear some iteration of, "Get me another drink so I can stand in these heels for another hour!" Pain is usually our body telling us that something is wrong, and recent studies have shown that our body is right. Three-inch-high heels put pressure on a forefoot that is seven times higher than wearing flats. Yikes!
ISU kinesiology masters student Danielle Barkema and kinesiology professor and chair Phil Martin researched the prolonged effect of walking in high heels. They saw that as the heels got higher, the compression on the inside of the knee increased concurrently. Science Daily released their study that finds that high heels may actually lead to joint degeneration and knee osteoarthritis. So not only do our shoes hurt our feet but they may actually be causing some longer term damage.
Famed New York podiatrist Dr. Jackie Sutera recommends a heel no more than two inches if you are still looking for some safe height on your shoe. There are certainly some cute options this season that don't leave us sacrificing style -- check out Refinery29's picks.