Duke Medicine: The case for sensible shoes

A pair of stylish, high-heeled shoes can make some women feel glamorous and sexy, but those beautiful shoes can also cause an unsexy-looking and -sounding foot deformity: hammer toe.

High heels and pointed shoes force the toes down into the shoe or into a point. When toes don’t have enough room to lie flat, a hammer toe can develop, usually with a bunion.

Anyone with a family history of hammer toe is also more likely to develop the condition.