Women wearing high heels look stunning and that’s an indisputable fact. However, wearing high-heeled shoes always goes together with some sort of discomfort. They often rub the skin in a painful way and may cause pain in the feet or legs. There is no need to put up with this since there are several tricks for choosing the perfect footwear that will make your life easier and your feet happier.

Bright Side studied some simple footwear rules that can increase a woman’s chances of getting the most comfortable pair of shoes and wearing them without having to suffer.

Comfortable heel height for everyday wear

No matter how much you love high heels, you’ll have to opt for more modest options for everyday use. Frequent wearing of high-heeled shoes harms our health greatly and traumatizes our knee joints and ligaments in the long run. The appearance of spinal problems can also rear its ugly head. They say beauty is pain, but do we really have to bear all this when living a more comfortable life is as easy as choosing a slightly lower high-heeled shoe? You can either alternate high heels with flat shoes or opt for a shorter and more comfortable heel:

• The simplest thing is to follow experts’ recommendations — they believe that the height of a heel for everyday use shouldn’t exceed 2.5 cm. This height is the least harmful, it reduces the load on the spine, and it doesn’t cause degenerative changes in the bone tissues.
• Another option for choosing comfortable shoes is to pay attention to the distance between the heel and the sole. The higher the heel is, the shorter the distance will be. A distance of 3.5 cm and longer is considered safe — it helps the feet to stand correctly with maximum steadiness.

Comfortable and safe height for party shoes

You’ll need to use a more complex trick to choose your “going-out” shoes. However, don’t worry — it’s worth it because these methods will help you choose the ideal heel height for you individually. The good news is that in most cases, the heel will be higher than 2-4 cm.

• The first method takes into account the specific features of the body. You need to measure your height and leg length from hips to feet and use the following formula: (height/leg length — 1.61)*10. As a result, you’ll get the measurements for the ideal height of your heel.
• The second method will require a ruler or a measuring tape. Sit comfortably on a chair and stretch one leg in front of you. Don’t point your foot, just relax it. Measure the distance from the heel to the ball of your foot as it is shown in the picture. The measurement that you get will be the ideal height of a heel for you because it equals the natural inclination of the foot and you won’t have to exert yourself.

Some more nuances

• Size. In order to prevent themselves from having leg pain, women often try to avoid shoes smaller than their size. And that’s correct because it’s better to choose a size bigger than yours. It will allow you to place silicon layers inside the shoes that will increase their comfort level.

• Material. As a rule, footwear made of artificial materials is very rough and it takes too much time for it to take the shape of the natural curve of our foot and toes. As a result, it causes the appearance of corns and calluses. The most comfortable shoes are those made out of natural suede or leather.

Heel tips and the position of the heel. As we have already mentioned, feet should neither be constrained too much in shoes nor should the shoes be too loose. Your feet should simply be fixed in the shoe. In order to understand how comfortable a selected pair of shoes is for you, don’t feel lazy or awkward about walking a little more when trying them on. Also, pay attention to the position of the heel — it shouldn’t be “curved” — turned outward or inward. If it is, these shoes will cause too many issues when wearing them and will break down really fast too.

Are you aware of any other tricks that might help you to avoid unsuccessful purchases? Please share them with us in the comments!

Please note: This article was updated in April 2022 to correct source material and factual inaccuracies.

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