Fears that wearing high-heeled shoes could lead to knee arthritis are unfounded, say researchers.

    But being overweight, smoking, and having a previous knee injury does increase the risk, the team from Oxford Brookes University found.

    They looked at more than 100 women aged between 50 and 70 waiting for knee surgery, and found that choice of shoes was not a factor.

    The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health.

    More than 2% of the population aged over 55 suffers extreme pain as a result of osteoarthritis of the knee.

    The condition is twice as common in 65-year-old women as it is in men the same age.

    Women's and men's knees are not biologically different, so the researchers wanted to find out why twice as many women as men develop osteoarthritis in the joint.

    Some researchers have speculated that high-heeled shoes may be to blame.

    The women in the study were quizzed on details of their height and weight when they left school, between 36 and 40 and between 51 and 55.

    They were asked about injuries, their jobs, smoking and use of contraceptive hormones.

    However, while many of these factors were linked to an increased risk over the years, tottering around in high heels for years was not.

    The researchers wrote: "Most of the women had been exposed to high heeled shoes over the years - nevertheless, a consistent finding was a reduced risk of osteoarthritis of the knee."

    There was an even more pronounced link between regular dancing in three-inch heels and a reduced risk of knee problems.

    The researchers described this finding as "surprising", but said that they would not expect a larger-scale study to overturn their findings.

    研究者們稱，人們害怕穿高跟鞋會導致膝蓋關節炎是沒有根據的。

    牛津布魯克斯大學研究小組發現，肥胖、吸煙或者以前膝蓋受過傷卻增加得關節炎的危險。

    他們對年齡在50到70歲之間的100名將要做關節手術的婦女進行研究，發現選擇什么樣的鞋并不是導致關節炎的因素。

    該研究在《流行病學與公共衛生》雜志上發表。

    55歲以上的人群中有超過2%的人忍受著膝蓋關節炎帶來的極度痛苦。

    這種情況在65歲的婦女中發生的幾率是同年齡男性的兩倍。

    女性和男性的膝蓋在生理上并沒有什么不同，所以研究者們想要知道為什么患關節炎的女性人數是男性的兩倍。

    有研究者推測高跟鞋可能是罪魁禍首。

    參加該項研究的婦女們被詳細詢問了她們在畢業時、30到40歲之間，51到55歲之間的身高和體重。

    研究人員還詢問她們的受傷、工作、吸煙和使用避孕激素的情況。

    然而，多年來，許多因素都增加了患關節炎的危險，但是常年穿著高跟鞋走路不是原因之一。

    研究者們寫到：“大多數婦女很多年來一直穿高跟鞋，然而可靠的發現表明他們患膝蓋關節炎的危險反而降低了。”

    研究者們甚至發現經常穿三英寸高的高跟鞋跳舞明顯和降低膝蓋得病的危險有關。

    研究者們稱這一發現是“令人驚訝的”，但是他們說不指望有大規模的研究會推翻他們的發現。