Ouch

I'm still going to stick by my previous assertion that shoes are like art...but ouch...

from Yahoo;

If you’ve browsed a shoe department lately, you may have noticed that high heels are growing—and not just in popularity. Towering platforms, extreme wedges, and treacherous stilettos have flooded the marketplace in recent months, and most every designer and celebrity seems to be doing their part to participate in the trend. Runways, red carpets, and glossy magazine spreads have all been inundated with the look. Ever the style catalyst, Lady Gaga donned Alexander McQueen’s 12-inch heels in her "Bad Romance" music video after three professional runway models refused to wear them on the runway last fall. This past weekend, even Tina Fey, the queen of nerd chic, strutted out in five-inch pumps to perform her opening monologue on "Saturday Night Live." Clearly, we have a fashion craze on our hands, or, um, feet.

Women who are overweight, have arthritis, or have high or flat arches, will experience more frequent foot and ankle problems (most common are tendon and muscle strains, hammertoes, bunions, and stress fractures—though long-term high heel wearers could suffer from tendinitis, severe ankle sprains, and torn ligaments and tendons), but many women encounter symptoms after extended high-heel wear. "Pain is your body's way of warning you that something is wrong, you should stop wearing the shoes" says Sutera.

Obviously no one expects that women will stop dressing up in heels altogether, but if you limit the amount of wear time and the heel's height you’re, um, taking a step in the right direction. The doctors we spoke with also recommend: Massaging your feet and rolling them over a golf ball or ice when you take off your shoes at night and gripping a towel and holding your foot up for 15 seconds, three times a day, can also help strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the feet.