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A new study by European researchers shows that women who habitually wear high heels experience changes in their calf muscles and tendons that make wearing flat shoes or standing flat on the floor uncomfortable or even painful, reported LiveScience.

Scientists already know that when a person places a muscle in a contracted position for an extended period, such as when a limb is put in a cast, the muscle literally becomes shorter. Marco Narici, the lead author of the study and a physiologist with the Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, wanted to find out if high heels had the same effect, telling LiveScience, "I thought that: women wearing high heels were doing an experiment for us without knowing it, so all we had to do was recruit them and test them."

Drawn from a pool of 80 volunteers, the participants included 11 women who, on average, were aged 43, and had worn stiletto high heels at least 5 cm (2 in) high for five days a week for two years or more, and did not feel comfortable walking flat-footed. There was also a control group of nine women who did not habitually wear high heels.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Narici and his colleagues first measured the size of the women's calf muscles. Next, they used ultrasound to measure the length of the calf muscle fibers. While the MRI scan showed no differences between the heel wearers and the control group, the ultrasound revealed that the fibers in the regular high-heel wearers were shorter by an average of 13 percent than those in the control group. The high-heel wearers also had thicker tendons.

Having shorter fibers affects how the calf muscle functions, generating less force and making the act of walking less efficient. To counteract the effect of the shortened fibers and allow the muscle to work normally, the Achilles tendon, which connects the calf muscle to the bone, stiffens and thickens.

Therefore, when a habitual high-heel wearer switches to flat footwear, discomfort may result because the muscle and the tendon are made to stretch beyond the range of movement that they have become accustomed to.

"In a way, the system has adapted to this new position. When they wear high heels the muscles feel more comfortable," Narici said.

In spite of the findings, which were published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Narici does not think that women should stop wearing high heels, but recommends that they perform stretching exercises to prevent the muscle fibers from shortening.

Casey Kerrigan, a biomechanics expert not involved with Narici's work, but had led a Harvard University study showing that high heels contribute to the development of knee arthritis in women, said that women should do away with high heels altogether, as the shoes were not worth the trouble. "We're living long enough that all of us are going to get arthritis and anything you can do to minimize the severity is a good thing," she said.

On the other hand, Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator for the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, believed that fashion would win out over science, regardless of how many studies present evidence that high heels are not good for women.

"The high heel has gotten as far as it's gotten, because it is such a highly impractical form of footwear. Its value to our society has nothing to do with its use as a shoe," she said.

Narici undertook the study with Robert Csapo of the University of Vienna, Austria, and Olivier Seynnes and Costis Maganaris of Manchester Metropolitan University, with funding from the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Vienna.