High heels impact an outfit in a way other accessories cannot. But that sexy, dramatic change in posture damages more than most women realize ?until they have to see an orthopedic doctor.

Turn on the TV for any length of time and you would think that high-heeled shoes are a comfortable as a pair of lush slippers. After all, 1950s housewives like June Cleaver and Lucy Ricardo wore them all day long while doing housework. Today, we see women on the small screen navigating the streets of New York City in skinny stilettos like it's nothing. However, when real women try to hobble around in high heels every day, they often find themselves walking their fancy shoes into the office of an orthopedic doctor.

High heels can result in a multitude of bodily injuries that go far beyond sore feet. However, as any woman who has spent a day or night in heels can tell you, the feet is where the pain and problems start. In high heels, the burden of your body weight is placed mostly on the ball of the foot, or the front part right before your toes. The pain you feel walking around in the shoes may be temporary, but long-term damage to this area of the foot can result in long-lasting pain, long after the shoes have come off. This condition, called metatarsalgia, can include persistent burning, aching, tingling, or sharp shooting pains beyond just the ball of the foot.

Your toes take the second hardest beating when you prance around in those pumps. Corns, bunions and hammertoe are all common conditions that prove pretty shoes can result in ugly, disfigured feet. A corn is a painful callous that forms on the top or side of toes as the result of too much pressure over an extended period of time. It can usually be treated with over-the-counter remedies, but an orthopedic doctor if needed can remove a persistent corn if needed.

Bunions and hammertoes are more serious conditions because they involve the skeletal structure of the foot and may require the attention of an orthopedic doctor. A bunion occurs when one of the outside toes, the "big" or "pinky" toe, begins to turn inward, resulting in a painful bump where the joint is separating from the foot. Bunions are often the result of wearing pointy-toed heels that shove the toes into an unnatural triangular form.

Hammertoe is a similar condition, but it involves the toe bones bending back on themselves, resulting in a bump on the top of the toe. While high heels may appear to have enough room for your toes when you first try them on, toes end up crammed together once they are forced to carry your full body weight for an extended period of time.

Have you ever woken up after a night out in heels and wondered why the inside of your knees ached? This common complaint occurs because when we walk around in high heels, the posture of our entire body is thrown out of whack. In this compromised position, a much greater amount of pressure is placed on the inner knee. This pressure causes not only the sore joint the morning after, but can also lead to permanent arthritis of the knee.

Article Tags: Orthopedic Doctor, High Heels