Forget killer heels – stilettos are the new keep-fit accessory, with women being urged to walk tall for fabulous legs.

New research has revealed that the shoes provide a great way to a perfect set of pins.

Victoria Beckham may have been warned to avoid the towering footwear as it was affecting her posture, but it seems the shoes favoured by all the red carpet favourites could actually be doing some good.

A study of 18 to 33-year-olds has shown those who walked in high heels activated their inner and outer calf muscles much more evenly than those who used flatter shoes.

A shorter heel, worn by half the subjects, led to them having bigger inner calf muscles because they are exercised more, according to the findings published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

“Similar to pulling a door-closer to its hinge, the ankle must be extended by a greater force when muscles pull closer to the ankle joint with a shorter heel,” said Professor Anna Ahn, of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California.

“Heel length may determine calf muscle size in humans.

“In order to generate these higher forces at the ankle, these individuals activate their relatively thicker muscles for a longer duration.”

In the study the researchers analysed ten sedentary people, five men and five women, to ensure athletic training was not a factor in their performance.

Two years ago Italian researchers found wearing a pair of moderately high heels can tone the body, condition muscles and even improve a woman’s sex life.

The study involved measuring electrical activity in the pelvic muscles of women when they held their feet at different angles.

Those who held their feet at an angle equivalent of a 7cm heel, showed up to 15 per cent less activity in their pelvic muscles.

Georgina Boulger

The Woman’s View

Georgina Boulger, 29, is a beauty therapist from Shrewsbury.

Shoes are certainly a passion for Georgina and towering heels are a key part of the obsession.

She is the proud owner of no less than 147 pairs of high heels – and that was the last time of counting.

Among her impressive footwear collection she counts Kurt Geigler as a favourite affordable designer but admits that her absolute prized possession is a pair of fabulous Christian Laboutins.

She is among those delighted to see some research which finally says there may be some good news for fans of high heels and that they can help to tone legs.

Georgina said she loves stilettos and the kind of killer heels favoured by the red carpet stars.

Although she is a big fan of heels, Georgina, who runs the Cute Tips beauty salon in Claremont Hill, also has a warning to those women who insist on wearing teeteringly high shoes every day.

The pedicure expert says: “Over a period of time hard skin can appear on the balls of the feet which can be difficult to remove.”

Matt Spinks

The Man’s View

Matt Spinks, 32, an architect from Bridgnorth, today said that while heels were now considered better for toning legs than flat shoes he wasn’t sure the pain was worth the gain.

“Can I just say I am glad I am male, as I would hate to be in pain when wearing high heels and to be out where you can’t do anything about it,” he said.

“I know from comments from my wife Carys that she is always looking forward to taking her shoes off after a night out.

“And sometimes she even carries a pair of feet fairies around with her as a back up. They are lightweight flat shoes that fold into a pouch and she can then change out of heels as soon as the official socialising of the evening is over.

“Saying that I do like to see women in them, as they are like a pieces of architecture designed around the foot, but then again some of them look like they need scaffolding to hold them up they are so high.

“I’d be intrigued to see the statistics on how many end up in accident and emergency departments after a night out on the town. But I think men do like to see women wearing high heels.”

By Tracey O’Sullivan