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A fierce pair of heels can make an ordinary girl feel like a superstar in five minutes flat. After a few hours of dancing, however, those shoes can have you searching high and low for a place to sit and rest your tired soles. Beauty always comes with a price, and for every woman devoted to sky-high heels, swollen and blistered toes are the toll.
What Causes Your Toes To Swell?
Localized swelling, the kind you experience in your toes or feet after a day of running around in 6-inch stilettos, is usually caused by a build-up of fluid or abnormal movement or position of your body. Thanks to gravity -- which pulls the fluids in your body down your limbs -- your feet and hands are more prone to swelling than other parts of your body, especially if you factor in warm weather and sitting or standing in place for a while. So whether you wear heels or flats, being on your feet all day increases your chances of swollen toes and ankles.
Wearing Heels and Your Feet
While our mothers and grandmothers knew how to look effortlessly elegant in a pair of heels 1.5 to 2 inches high, many fashionable women today would be unhappy in a pair under 3 inches. Though 5- and 6-inch platforms make your legs look miles long and give you the gait of a super model, they are killing your feet and shortening your achilles tendons. Super-high heels with pointed toe boxes and minimal arch support force you to walk on the balls of your feet and reshape your toes to fit the shoes, causing swelling, blisters, pinched nerves, ingrown toenails, hammertoes, bunions and corns -- not a good look, girls. Those strappy sandals you love also put abnormal stress on your legs, knees and lower back, not to mention the swelling and blisters caused by straps rubbing against your toes.
Don't Throw Your Heels Out Just Yet
Just because your super high heels can cause your feet a world of pain doesn't mean you should throw them into a garbage bag and drop it at Goodwill. Heels are a fun, sexy part of your wardrobe. They just aren't for everyday. Save your skyscraper heels for special occasions where standing is not mandatory, and leave them home when you head out for work. Remember a three-hour rule: Only be on your feet in your heels for three hours at a time.
Think Before You Shop
Many of us have no intention of giving up our stylish stilettos. But give it some thought before you head for the register. If shoes are too tight or hurt when you try them on, leave them at the store. Yes, they will stretch after a few wears, but they will not stop hurting your feet. Never buy shoes too big or too small, even by a size. You will never wear them, because they will either hurt your feet or you will break an ankle trying to stay in them all night.
