How To Fake Comfort In High Heels

Online, February 23, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Spring is coming! With the warmer weather, your wardrobes will be changing into shorter dresses and a release from winter boots into sexy heels. And these are not your mothers' sexy stilettos! Today's heels are closing in on 6" with a platform included - gorgeous but troublesome if walking in stilts is not your strongest attribute. Here is how to get spring's sexiest trend while keeping it safe.

"Adding a platform in the forefoot gives you height while allowing the foot to function more safely" says Board Certified New York City podiatrist Dr. Johanna S. Youner. Per Dr. Youner, "A two-inch heel is as high as you should go to walk in your heels."

Dr. Youner has seen her share of stiletto related injuries in her Park Avenue office. She has performed surgery on women who created their own foot problems because of wearing high heeled shoes. " Today, there are options with shoes that did not exist twenty years ago. As the heels have gotten higher, so have the platforms. We also have the option of using open- toed shoes which allow the toes to function more naturally. In closed stilettos, the toes are forced into a hammertoe position, and the great toe is forced into a bunion position. If you walk with shoes that are molding your feet in this manner, you will create a situation where bunions and hammertoes are created simply by the shoes you wear."

To add fun to your wardrobe but still save your feet for your lifetime, Dr. Youner makes these simple but helpful suggestions.

- Instead of wearing a three inch heel, look for a one inch platform added on to the front of the shoe with a two inch heel. This makes the effect on the body that of a two inch heel, but one looks like you are wearing a three inch heel. The effect of the body's weight on the front of the foot is markedly reduced by simply switching one inch.

- Use an open toed shoe and decrease the deformity forces of a closed toe stiletto. The deforming forces of a high heel can create hammertoes, neuromas, bunions not to mention simple corns, calluses, ingrown nails, and pain.

- Go up one half to one size in your stilettos with a pad inside your shoe at the forefoot to give you both more room and comfort. Dr. Youner adds, "Guaranteed no one knows what size you are wearing."

- Use a heel strap or strap over the instep to secure the shoe - A strap secures the shoe on the foot. Having the shoe secured will prevent the foot from overworking and will prevent tendinitis.

- Add an arch support for high heels ( available at podiatrists office or online ) - these make a high heel much more comfortable. The investment for over-the counter high heeled orthotic (arch support) starts at twenty five dollars. The overall benefits are countless, from decreased pain to better back support and arch support. Dr. Youner adds, "Most adults benefit from arch supports as feet are not built to walk on concrete nor bear the kinds of weight we support."

- Simple padding for pressure points like lambswool for pain in between toes or tubefoam for pain on top of toes

- Dr. Youner adds, "Foot pain is not normal. In a city like New York, to be on trend is important to be taken seriously if you are working in an industry relating to design, fashion or anything cutting edge. Even if you are wearing hip sneakers to work, sneak small arch supports in to give you the edge to get through a fourteen hour day with less pain than your co-workers. There are simple answers to today's vexing shoe styles and longer work hours."