Take a moment to appreciate just what your feet do on a daily basis; they take you from A to B and back to A again all day, everyday, they put up with your gruelling new exercise regime, and to treat them at the end of the day, you might be cramming them into skyscraper heels. With a quarter of the entire bones in your body contained within your feet they are a wondrous part of our bodies, so why don't we take more care of them?

The sheer extent of how abused our feet are is seen in the amount of problems both men and women suffer when it comes to their feet. 20% of men will suffer foot pain on a regular basis, whilst a staggering 80% of British women have problems with their feet. It will come as no surprise then when experts suggest that the majority of these cases are down to a bad choice in footwear.

With regular health warnings about what certain styles of shoes can lead to many appear to ignore these warnings, choosing high heels, shoes that offer little or no support as well as suffering in silence when their shoes pinch or give them blisters.

Perhaps it isn't helped by the fact that celebrities continue to totter around in high heels, portraying the glamorous aspects of wearing these gravity defying shoes. In fact, Amanda Holden was pictured this week, just weeks away from giving birth, wearing an incredibly high pair of shoes.

High heels have been linked to the painful foot ailment 'flat feet' with the University of East Anglia's recent research showing that high heels weaken tendons in the feet, which could consequently lead to collapsed arches of the foot, further causing painful soles and problems with posture. 15% of people suffer from this painful condition, and can often struggle with their shoe choices as a consequence.

Speaking about recent research carried out at Arthritis Research UK, Professor Alan Silman commented: “Foot problems are an important and not sufficiently recognised cause of pain and disability in the elderly.

“This research represents a first step to unravelling some of the complex biochemistry that regulates tendon disorders.”

In fact, ill-fitted footwear can lead to a whole host of problems including migraines, back pain and osteoporosis, but worryingly, only 19% of sufferers actually seek treatment.

So why is this? Well according to Mike O'Neill from the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, it's Ostrich Syndrome.

“People don't like their feet – they consider them the ugliest part of the body, so they don't pay any attention to what's going on down there.”

Ignoring these aches and pains can lead to far worse problems further down the line, with the consultant orthopaedic surgeon of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS, Andy Goldberg, saying; “Problems can build for a long time before they really hurt. So people put up with it until the problem becomes permanent.”

Don't suffer in silence; if you have painful ailments in your feet, seek medical advice...and ditch the high heels for a while!