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That is a very nice feeling, indeed! Unfortunately, I don't have that feeling nearly enough. It's not that I feel clumsy or uncomfortable, but rarely do I feel like I actually know what I'm doing. I may expand upon that thought later. I will have to buck the trend here, and say that I do not find How to Walk in Heels videos to be very helpful at all. There are a significant portion of them that are just wrong, or give bad advice. Those that do give correct advice present it in such a way to be less than helpful with the motion of the walk, if that makes any sense. And whoever says you need to walk upon a straight line, or worse yet, cross your feet over each other as you take each step needs to be publicly shamed. Nobody walks that way on the street. It looks beyond absurd. I'm not saying that there aren't any good videos out there, but they are few.

There is often a blurry line between actual injury and just getting old. I don't think there's anything wrong with my knees, but they are definitely not the knees of an 18 year old. As far as the other stuff, there seems to be no sign of trouble from the old Achilles tendon injury, and my plantar fasciitis symptoms have left me as well, thanks to ballet-type exercises. I guess I'll just keep doing THAT. How old do you have to be to get a knee replacement? I didn't realize there was an age floor on that. My wife needs one, but I guarantee she won't get it until she's in a wheelchair.

I was mostly concerned with coworkers seeing my colorized toes, but your poignant point was not lost on me either. What is the chances of that really happening, and if my wife wants something so simple, why not appease her? Without question it is an excuse of MINE that I fully own. You are right, I should call her bluff.

This is not surprising as my wife says something similar. It is almost ironic but the Keds she wears often, (picture several posts ago in this very thread) and keeps as backup shoes, hurt her feet if she does not wear arch supports in those kinds of shoes. The flatness of them is almost worse than some of her high heels. Most of the time with her high heels, her foot pain comes from the vamp pressing on the sides of her toes in being pitched forward. When standing for long bouts of time, heel pain comes from the ball of her foot.

Not sure why I missed this thread until now, but I did. In any case I am empathetic on this as I have Achilles Tennon issues myself. For me... and I wonder if this may be part of your issue... it has to do with my knees. Yes, no joke! I need a knee replacement on my right knee but I am too young for it yet. So, I had minor surgery done to it in 2017, but after 6 months I was not recovering from the surgery. Then an occupational therapist decided to try something, she did massage therapy on my Archilles Tennon and it helped alleviate the issue and I could go back to work. I guess the tenons stretch from your ankle and then go around each side of the knees. For me anyway, with no ligaments in the knee to hold my foot in alignment, it strains my Archilles Tennon. Then, and now even, if I massage that tenon it helps with my foot/knee pain. For me I need this about once a week, something I can do, but my wife also helps massage too. Learning this has helped me a lot, but it also comes with a truth. With medical stuff people will often think that what is wrong with THEM automatically equates to YOU, and I am in NO WAY saying that. For me anyway, just the way my Archilles Tennon plays out, affects my feet and knee. You actually see it in my foot prints. On sand or snow, my left foot is straight ahead, but with my right, since I have no ligaments in my knee, it cannot hold my foot straight so it pulls to the right. Literally, my right foot walks duck-footed, or my footprint on my right side is splayed out at a 45 degree.

I think maybe I'm starting to get somewhere with my practicing, even if it is just indoors. I put on my heels this morning and felt really quite grounded, on solid footing. Its really nice!

I totally agree. Discomfort is one thing, actual pain is something else and is never something to put up with. Stop, recuperate, find out what caused the issue then fix it or modify whatever you need to prevent it from happening again. I have never done anything silly with heels, but I’ve ignored pain while training for distance running many years ago and learned to regret it. curiously enough the footware that seems to be most likely to give me problems are Converse trainers (sneakers) I bought a couple pair because I liked the pastel colours and then discovered that the thin rubber soles led to some serious pain in the nerves in the ball of my right foot. I stopped wearing them except on days when I know I won’t have to walk far - ironically not unlike I do with my 12cm stilettos!

Hey thanks for your kind words of compassion. But, while it is easy to get upset at the situation I just try and remember a few things. The first is that as rough as my childhood was, that is behind me. I am not going to let it get in the way of where I am going, as a person has no control of where they were born, what kind of parents they had, if they were in an urban setting or rural, but the decisions I make now can change almost anything for the better... if they are proper ones. So I try and focus on only things in life I can change. And secondly, compared to most of my foster siblings, I did not have it that bad. I endured physical abuse but not the other kind which most of them did. In fact, now they say 9 out of 10 kids in foster care have been S-Abused. I am VERY fortunate that was not something I had happen to me though.

I can drive in my high stiletto heels, but it recks the outside of the heel. And it has put a hole in my rubber floor mat. So now I will take the right heel off while driving.

Yes I guess that is very much a First World problem - the potential troubles with driving in towering Louboutin stilettos! Not a problem shared by much of the world. I can see too where the 13cm heels on Hot Chicks might not be suitable for a lot of situations. And a bit of overkill for grocery shopping! In a way our challenges are quite similar. There is nowhere within easy walking distance for me to wear my 12cm heels or indeed any stilettos. Simply getting off the boat in them would be impossible. I’m moored along a little jetty which is essentially a long fibreglass grate. A stiletto heel would simply go through one of the holes before you took a single step. And then there is the muddy chalky towpath for a kilometre before a very steep farm road up into town. So I have to put my stilettos in a backpack and change into them. I can do that in the park and practice there, but wearing 12cm stilettos in a small farm town grocery store seems overkill, Otherwise it’s a matter of catching a bus to a bigger town. And so the obstacles to real world practice start to build up.

They certainly are! Normally real world walking is the only way for me (except while breaking in a new pair), but since the Hot Chicks are such a challenge it was good to do more indoors. My biggest obstacle for wearing them out is that they don't feel suitable for many things. I don't have that many occasions with limited walking distance, and can't yet overcome myself to wear them for basic things like grocery shopping. Also this would bring the issue of driving in them, which I don't feel safe to do so. Typical luxury problems of living with Hot Chicks 😀

Yes, Hot Chicks are a pretty serious challenge. I had thought my indoor practice in my heels would have meant more than it did. Real world walking is so much different. I kind of like the challenge though. I’m looking forward to another try at the park

That's great! Real world practice is always a good idea, and I feel you for wanting to be good enough when really wearing them out for a specific occasion. As mentioned above I wore them out again (this weekend) and was a bit surprised. Even though I wore them regularly at home and felt some progress, it was totally different wearing them out again. For sure the home practice helped, but not as much as I expected. Now I want to find some occasions where I can wear them out more frequently, it's not that easy 😄

@higherheels Thank you so much! This high heels challenge has been such a help and such fun too. I’ve bought myself a new pair of jeans to wear with my 12cm boots as a reward for my hard work - and hopefully will get to wear them soon to a cafe for cake and coffee. Just need to get in a bit more real world practice. I have to be certain I can ace this! How are things going with the Hot Chicks? Did you ever reward yourself with the night out you mentioned after your successful outing a few weeks ago?

So sorry to hear that, I'm sure foster care was no ideal family situation either. I'm hoping you have been able to work through all the horrors that you had to endure. My childhood wasn't great, but paradise compared to your nightmares. D

@Shyheels That's great progress, and going to a cafe should be a good occasion for the first time. I think you're not that far away from it 🙂 @CrushedVamp I think such videos can help. But in my opinion the most important thing is to choose the right shoes, start low and keep practicing. The rest should basically come itself from practice. When I started, tutorials on Youtube weren't a thing yet like they are now. I just wore them. Later on i've watched such videos, but basically didn't learn anything new that I hadn't already found out myself.

I’ve seen the videos, read the articles and had advice from female friends who are extremely skilled in walking in heels and all of this is great, in the abstract, but nothing replaces the actual doing - practice, practice and practice.

Do members on here feel as if watching "how to walk in high heels' videos on Youtube helps? The reason I ask is, my wife will people-watch people at weddings and confide in me that this person or that does not know how to walk in high heels. It is not done in a nefarious way, just making a point. I have watched a few videos on youtube and they have stated what my wife has made comments about over the years like taking shorter steps, stepping with toe or heel down first when walking on certain surfaces, etc. So I know they and she seem to be lockstep on their pointers, if you will forgive the bad pun?

So true. I have made the effort recently to go to the park and practice on a paved and gently undulating footpath and straightaway noticed the difference! As you say 100 metres might as well be 1000. I did a couple hundred metres, I would guess, and very much needed a break. It was fun though. I need to go back.

Bringing us gently back on point, I managed to snag a photo of my friend in her bootcut jeans while I was tearing down my musical equipment on Sunday. I'm not entirely sure what this group of women was doing, but I think they were learning American Sign Language. Anyway, I took a picture of the whole group, then cropped it to show the relevant part, and to protect the identity(ies) of those involved. My friend doesn't wear super high heels, but she does wear heels almost every Sunday, and this style, though on the casual side for me, seems to suit her.

Backup shoes are totally fine! I don't use them myself because I know very well what I can handle in normal circumstances. If something unexpected gets in the way it of course can become uncomfortable or painful, but that's not the norm. Generally I'm also in team "if it hurts stop". I don't see any benefits in intentionally getting yourself into pain to become better. In my youth and beginnings with high heels I went this way, and yes I got better. But I'm sure I would've also gotten better the other way, and without pain. I really wouldn't do it like this again and also don't recommend it to anyone.

Oh, yes! I've said for years that I don't care how many floors you've swept, don't care how many loads of laundry you've done, once you step out on to the street it's a whole different world, and suddenly, 100 meters might as well be 1,000. But, these difficulties are not impossible to overcome.

I cannot think of anybody who has stuck around here saying to put up with the pain. This whole Beauty Is Pain thing is kind of a social media meme at best, and a fetish thing at worst. Having said that, I certainly have gained some experience and endurance over the years between walking thousands of miles in heels, and working farmer's markets with my wife in heels. That covers both the walking and the standing aspects. I have quit bringing backup shoes, because I've never needed to use them. Well, except that one time when I had catastrophic shoe failure. On the other hand, I certainly do not expect everyone to do what I have done, and I think backup shoes are just fine. I always joke that comfort is overrated, but when it comes to actual pain, that 's another story.

Yes. That’s what concerns me as I practice indoors with my 12cm boots. I love the idea of wearing them out to a cafe for coffee but have to find a way to get real world walking in before I even think about that. On the bright side, I continue to improve. I especially love cooking in heels.

It was because of the hockey game night @higherheels that we started doing something controversial, at least for some of the members on this site, and that was to always have a backup pair of comfortable shoes for my wife. Typically, they are a pair of Keds, which changes the whole formal/informal look I realize, but they are more comfortable for her to wear. It is controversial because some on here say, "just put up with the pain. By working through it you get better", and others say, "if it hurts stop". I am not sure which is best. These are Keds just so everyone knows what I am referring too...