Are high heels worth the pain?

"It is the flagrant lack of practicality that makes high-heeled shoes so fascinating." --Stephen Bayley

I have about 40 pairs of high-heeled shoes, from boots (calf and ankle) to open toed to mary janes and strappy sandals. I love the look of a high-heeled shoe, but if you asked me if I prefer high heels to flats, flats would be my answer without a doubt.

Flats are comfortable. They are cute and they work with pants, skirts and dresses. High heels can be very sexy, but comfortable, they are not!

In an attempt to be sexier for both myself and my husband, I decided to ditch the flats this past weekend and don some high heels. We had plans in the New York City Friday night - we saw Esperanza Spalding at the Jazz Standard. Because it was in the City, I wanted to get dressed up, so I wore these BCBGirls patent-leather booties my husband surprised me with a couple of months ago. They have a sexy three-inch heel, which makes me think they were more a gift for him, than me. 

But I digress.

These booties are adorable, but I can only get about a half hour of standing in them before I want to chop off my feet. Once in the city, we walked about eight blocks from the train station to the club. First mistake - we should have taken a cab. Then, we waited on line for about 30 minutes. By the time we got to our table, my feet were on fire. But they calmed down during the concert and afterwards, we took a cab back to the train station.

Saturday night, still trying to be sexy, I wore another pair of high-heeled booties. I've had these Steven shoes for at least six months, but have never worn them out of the house. I put them on one Saturday I was planning to have lunch with friends in NYC and never made it out of the house. The pain was ridiculous. I grabbed my flats that day.

Well, I thought I'd give these shoes another try, since there would be very little walking that evening. The walk from the parking lot to Christopher's in New Brunswick was about four minutes. I made it there without a problem. However, the pain set in at the table. Just sitting there, my feet started to hurt. I don't think the shoes are too small, they went on comfortably enough, but maybe it was the newness and the fact that they hadn't stretched, but lord have mercy, my feet were killing me by the time we left the restaurant.

So, the four-minute walk back to the car was painful. I was doing the walk you see women do when they look like their feet hurt. You know, the half limp, half still trying to be cute walk?

I couldn't wait to get out of those shoes!

Sunday morning, when the alarm went off for church, I jumped out of bed and landed on a huge cramp in my left calf. I could barely walk. It was those damned high-heels all weekend. Ugh! 

According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), 42 percent of women admitted they'd wear a shoe they liked even if it hurt; 73 percent admitted they already have a shoe-related foot issue.

Women will always wear high-heeled shoes and even I will eventually pull mine back out of the closet, when my calf stops hurting. So, the APMA offers the following tips for women who wear high heels:

1. Get the best fitting high heel as possible.

2. Cushion, cushion, cushion, That's for the bottom of your feet because with age, we lose fatty deposits on the bottom of our feet.

3. I know they aren't as cute, but we should wear a thicker heel for more stability.

4. Pay attention to the slope or pitch of the heel.

5. Wear open-toed heels to relieve pressure on corns and calluses.