My awesome shoe-buying stalker (yes, there are standards if you want to stalk me), recently bought me these very high, very smart boots (I’m guessing as a house-warming present. Also, I didn’t have heeled black boots and winter in Jo’burg’s cruel). Yesterday wasn’t all that cold so I did the tights and little dress to complement the boots thing.

My back didn’t like that at all. The height, the really spiky heel (and let’s be honest, the cold) contributed to furious rubbing of my bum (not very effective if you do it yourself) in an effort to get the nerve and the muscles to be happy with each other. Every winter my sciatica acts up. And wearing heels makes it worse. Because I try to limit my elevated footwear to once a week, and mostly for meetings, this hasn’t been too much of a problem.

Anyway, I found some pain pills (which I should probably have googled before swallowing – turns out this particular brand was withdrawn from the market in the US because of health risks) and bonded very closely with my little heated wheat pack.

When my back pain started (almost two decades ago!) it was not because of heels, but due to being diligent and spending hours behind my desk studying. Sitting is probably worse for your health than heels, but as far as ruining your body goes, shoes, particularly high heels, will make you miserable. Yes it will make your legs look longer, it will raise your butt, and you will most likely feel like a million bucks (if you manage not to fall on your face), but you will pay a very painful price for wearing them often.

And my friends who say they can’t wear flats – the damage has probably already been done to your muscles and tendons; but if wearing heels every day doesn’t make you cry yourself to sleep at night, wear them with flair!