Footwear is one area you have to be very careful about if you want to avoid low back pain. That's because swelling and pain in the heel, soles and arch of the feet can lead to back pain.

The role of footwear in low back pain is intrinsically linked with fashion, whether formal (high heels) or casual (sandals/flip flops). High heels have been around for nearly a century, (that's how long they have been damaging our backs). Sandals on the other hand have made the transition from beachwear to fashionwear only recently.

So what do they actually do to your back?

Well, high heels simply relocate the body's center of gravity forward, so that you bend your knees and lean forward to compensate. This puts extra stress on the spine leading to low back pain.

Both high heels and flip flops have no arch or back support. If you must wear high heels, make sure you have heel inserts or insoles in place to act as a shock absorber and relieve the back a little.

But flip flops are worse than high heels in a way, because they cannot have such inserts. They best thing you can do if you love your flip flops is to save them for occasions when you have little or no walking to do.