Wearing high heels can make women wince later in life

"Young women should make careful choices regarding their shoe type to avoid hindfoot pain later in life, or perform stretching exercises to alleviate the effect of high heels on foot pain," recommended the study authors.

National data reveal that foot and toe symptoms are among the top 20 reasons for patients aged 65 to 74 years visiting their physician. Researchers from Boston University School of Public Health and the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife enrolled 3,372 participants in the Framingham Foot Study. Previous studies have determined a correlation between improper footwear and foot pain, but this research focused on small patient samples or disease specific studies.

According to the study, 25 per cent of participants reported generalised foot pain on most days with 19 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women falling into this subtype. "In women, we found an increased risk between hindfoot pain and shoewear," said the study authors. The study revealed that only a small percentage of men wore poor shoes, thus shoe type is not a major factor for developing foot pain in men, says a Boston release. The study will be detailed in the October issue of Arthritis Care and Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.