WOMEN who simply can’t resist a new pair of stilettos can walk a little taller. Scientists have discovered that high-heeled shoes - blamed for stress fractures and joint pain - can have some health benefits.

A new study has found that wearing a pair of moderately high heels can tone the body, condition muscles and even improve a woman’s sex life without the need for onerous exercise sessions.

Maria Cerruto, a urologist at the University of Verona who led the study, said she conducted her tests because she wished to tackle “bizarre” nonscientific theories blaming high heels for a range of ills, including schizophrenia.

“As a woman who loves heeled shoes, I tried to find something healthy in them. In the end I achieved my goal. Heels affect pelvic floor activity, reducing pain and improving your health. We now hope to prove that wearing heels during daily activity may reduce the need for pelvic exercises.”

High heels have been a fashion item since the 1600s but over the past 50 years they have been blamed for a variety of health problems ranging from bunions, stress fractures and knee pain to an increased risk of arthritis.

Manolo Blahnik, whose high-heeled shoes were fetishised by Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker in the American television series Sex and the City, welcomed the research.

“This is wonderful news,” he said. “I’ve been hounded for years about how bad it is for posture, but I always thought it was contradictory.

“Until my mummy was 87 she was wearing 5in heels and she looked wonderful. She is my living example that heels are good for you.

“When you put on a high heel it makes life more exciting. In the 1980s it was all about power, but today it’s shifted; it’s about elegance. If you’re a woman, it’s a way to appeal to the male species, it’s a way to attract. And it works. I have men who tell me that heels have saved their marriage.

“I think there’s a limit, though. Anything over 11.5cm [4½in] is just too much. You can’t walk properly; it’s no longer elegant.”

The research, to be reported in the journal European Urology, involved measuring electrical activity in the pelvic muscles of women when they held their feet at different angles. Cerruto studied 66 volunteers aged under 50.

She discovered that women who held their feet at a 15-degree angle to the ground, the equivalent of a 7cm [2Çin] heel, showed up to 15% less electrical activity in their pelvic muscles. The results suggest the muscles are more relaxed when women wear higher heels, increasing their strength and ability to contract.

“Women often find it difficult to complete their exercises. This may prove a solution,” Cerruto said.

“Like many women, I like high-heeled shoes, and although they are sometimes uncomfortable I continue to wear them in an effort to appear more slender and taller. It’s good to know they have potential health benefits.”

An official guide to better sex, provided by NHS Direct, advises women to become more aware of their “pleasure muscles” – pelvic floor muscles – and advises them how to exercise them to aid sexual arousal. The NHS recommends that women, particularly before and after pregnancy, should do pelvic floor exercises up to five times a day.

But the study prompted a mixed response from fitness instructors. Zoe McNulty runs a class for women with high heels in London called “Sweat and Stilettos”. The session is designed to improve their comfort and strength while wearing heels on the dance floor.

McNulty believes heels can improve muscle tone in women’s legs, thighs and buttocks. “As soon as you put yourself on your toes you are throwing your sense of gravity out of line. And you’ve got to compensate elsewhere, which means you work muscles that you wouldn’t normally use. You do get more toned,” she said. “Just walking around in heels can make people fitter, but the danger is whether they can hold their postures properly. That’s where my class comes in.”

Matt Roberts, a personal trainer whose clients have included Madonna, Naomi Camp-bell, Natalie Imbruglia, Mel C and John Galliano, was more cautious.

“A woman wearing high heels will hold the muscles tight to compensate,” Roberts said. “When you are standing on tiptoes you have to clench the buttocks, the inner thighs and the pelvic floor muscles. It would potentially give them a short-term tension and toning. But the negative effects can outweigh the positive.

“The knees and metatarsals are put under strain, the hips are out of position. It can lead to long-term health risks.”

Times recommends

• It is possible to look stylish while pregnant
• Britain’s tot models
• Who and what benefits from the heat wave?