Recent studies once again demonstrate that high heels can boost the risk of joint degeneration, and even shorten calf muscles and thicken Achilles’ tendons. As a result of these findings, health reporter Kafi Drexel set out to find out how you can still put your best foot forward, even if you can't give up on those stilettos.

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“Clearly wearing high heels for long periods of time will cause arthritic changes in the knees,” said Dr. Suzanne Levine, a podiatric surgeon at Institute Beauté. “It will cause some serious problems, back problems, lots of injuries that we’re seeing with the extreme shoes. These are shoes four inches and women that are wearing them for longer than eight hours a day.”

With that said, unlike some podiatric surgeons, Dr. Levine doesn't want to keep you out of your heels. She wears them herself, and loves them so much that she even has a vintage collection on display in her office that would make Carrie Bradshaw flush.

But she cautions that there's a way of feeding our shoe addiction without having to put our feet into rehab.

“What happens is that certain muscle groups become very weak in wearing heels, so I change my shoes maybe three times a day,” she said. “I'll go from a four-inch heel, to a three-inch heel, to flats. The key is to really changing the heel height.”

Alternating heights and going on a major shopping spree is exactly what her patient, Jennifer Parsons, has been doing a lot of lately. Just months after bunion surgery, she's finally able to slip into heels without tears.

“I came here because my feet were in pain but I also wanted to be more fashionable, and Dr. Levine has helped me do that, where you don't walk around all day in four-inch heels, but certainly you do it in moderation,” Parsons said.

And, believe it or not, there are even actually exercises you can do to stay well-heeled.

The key is to really change the heel height, to exercise the foot, to actually write the letters of the alphabet using your toes, because you can strengthen the muscles around the ankle and also to stretch,” suggests Levine. “It’s very important to stretch the heel cords and you can do that simple exercise by standing on a step and just bringing the heels down and rising up on the ball of the foot and bringing the heels down.”

These tips should help keep us all on the right foot.