Haven’t you heard?

Women are in a constant battle between their high-heeled shoes and their feet.

Rather than discard our favorite pair of boots, stilettos or pumps, we will withstand discomfort and pain–and wear high heels that hurt our feet for the sake of beauty.

However, thanks to modern medicine–and a few posture and sizing tips–there are ways to wear high heels without pain.

Use these tips to beat the pain from your tootsies and free your feet from blisters, cramped toes and unbearable suffering.

Get measured before donning that gorgeous pair of high heels.

Remember when old school shoe stores would stock an apparatus that measured the size of your feet?  Measuring your feet is important to show the sizes and dimensions of each area of your feet.

One reason why women wear high heel shoes that hurt their feet is because of the wrong shoe size.

Understand the shape and size of your feet.

Just like high heels, not all feet are similar. Do you have high arches or a high instep? Possess wide feet or narrow feet?


Find all the high heel shoes in your closet that are pain-free. Examine these shoes to discover the type of shoes that fit your feet best.

Because your shoe size can fluctuate with weight gain and weigh loss, check your feet for changes in length and width. This tip also keeps high heel blisters away from your heels.

Try on high heel shoes only in the afternoon.

Your feet will swell during the day. Trying on your shoes after 2pm will make sure that your high heel stilettos fit your feet at the time of the day when they are the most swollen and tender.

If you spy a pair of high heels that you love during the early hours of the day, try them on for size in the mid-afternoon.

Covet high heels always. But, resist wearing synthetic soled shoes.

High heel shoes made with leather soles are pliable. While man-made soles are more affordable, they will never mold, or take the shape of your feet.

The best method to distinguish high heels made with man-made soles and those of the leather kind, flip over the shoes to see if the words “vero curio” or man-made materials are embossed into the underbelly of your shoes.

A few last-minute tips to wear high heels without pain.

  • Resist  squeezing your toes into high heel shoes that are two sizes two small. Prevent high heel blisters by avoiding shoes that are too snug.
  • Pain is often the result of wearing the wrong size shoe or high heel.
  • To wear high heels without pain, increase your current shoe size by a half a size to give your feet room to swell and breathe.
  • Massage your feet after wearing high heel shoes to cut pain and swelling.