In my world, fashion trumps comfort (most of the time anyway). Spending the day running errands calls for cute sandals or ankle boots. And the answer for a fun night out is always a pair of heels. Whether you choose a wedge, a pump, or stiletto, a heel always adds a little pep to everyone’s step. But, is this iconic fashion choice doing more harm than good? Will my body suffer later in life due to my fashion choices now?

I know what I am getting myself into when I slip on a pair of heels for the night. 30 minutes in and my feet start to turn red. An hour later and it is impossible to stand up. By the end of thenight I am squirming around the shoe in pain as I trek home. Why force my foot to sit in such an unnatural position for so long? As much as it hurts, I am willing to sacrifice my comfort for my outfit. But, according to some research maybe this sacrifice isn’t the smartest choice.

According to an article from Women’s Health, more than just a woman’s feet are affected when wearing high heels. Ones ankles and calves, knees, hips, and back all suffer. Laura Beil, the author of the article, claims that “stiletto devotees can develop chronically taut (and Shortened!) ankle and calf tendons, making walking–even in flats–painful.” Hearing this, I am beginning to be concerned for my future health.

Women’s Health isn’t the only one who has made these claims. Marco Narici, a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, “wondered if constantly wearing high heels could also cause muscle shortening.” He figured that this would be very easy to experiment because a huge number of women already wear high heels on a daily basis. He conducted a study with 11 women who have worn stilettos five days a week for two or more years. Like a good scientist, he had a control group of 9 women who “did not regularly wear heels.” He measured each woman’s calf muscle using MRI. However, he didn’t notice a difference between the two groups. He decided to try something else. Using an ultrasound, he measured the “length of the calf muscle fibers.” Sure enough, the fashionistas calfs were 13% shorter than the flat footers. So what does this mean? Well, the high heels also effect the Achilles tendon. When one wears heels, her achilles tendon actually gets thicker. The thick tendon counterbalances the “shorter muscle fibers and allows the muscle to behave normally.” While the muscle may function normally, these opposing forces cause soreness in women’s feet.

So now we know why heels cause pain. But is the pain very unhealthy? High heels put extra pressure “on the balls of the feet and squeeze the toes together.” Consequently, this can make the foot bend inward. Apparently, instead of ditching the heels, some women are beginning to get surgery to shave down the bones of their toes. That is an extreme measure.

Now that I that my foot is slowly bending inward and my calf muscles are shortening, is there anything else terrible happening to my body?

For as long as I can remember I have had terrible posture. Sitting with my back hunched is just more comfortable than trying to constantly engage my core to straighten my back. High heels alter a woman’s posture greatly. In fact, heels force the pelvis to tilt forward 10 to 15 degrees. This tilt unevenly distributes body weight on the feet. Majority of the weight is forced on the already cramped toes. Negative outcomes include bunion development, Morton’s neuroma, and hammer toes.

Wonderful, I don’t want shortened calves, bunions, or any of the horrors caused by heels. But what happens if I decide to keep them out of my closet. I don’t wear heels everyday so my chances of experiencing these things are actually limited. Some preventative tips include stretching your leg muscles before and after, avoid pointed toe heels, and vary your shoe type to give your feet a break.

So no, fashion is not killing me but it might not be the best thing for me. I’ll still wear heels everyone once in a while but as soon as I feel pain those babies are coming right off.