Stilettos in the clear

High Heels are in the clear - they are not to blame for causing a crippling knee complaint and may actually be good for your joints, a report out today claims.

Being overweight when young is what increases a woman's chance of developing knee osteoarthritis, says the research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Care.

If anything, it concludes, stilettos and other high heels are associated with a reduced risk of developing the problem.

Professor Ray Fitzpatrick of Oxford Brookes University, who wrote the report, said: "It is very unlikely that prolonged wearing of high-heeled shoes represents a risk factor for symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee in women."

Two per cent of the population over 55 suffers crippling pain due to knee osteoarthritis. By the age of 65 the condition is twice as common in women.

The new study shows that heavy smoking, previous knee injury, osteoarthritis of the feet and being overweight before the age of 40 are likely to increase the risk, while wearing high heels does not - which may be some comfort after a blister-making night out on stilettos.