You've probably heard the phrase, "The bigger they come, the harder they fall." It turns out the old saying could easily be applied to high-heeled shoes.

With the increasing fashion trend of higher and higher heels, there is a corresponding increase in injury related to tripping and falling when wearing them. A new study shows the rate of injury doubled between the years of 2002 and 2012, with women between the ages of 20 and 29 having the highest rate of injury.

Hillary Brenner, DPM, a spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association, has harsh words for ultra-high-heeled shoes: "We podiatrists like to call it shoe-icide."

High heels are a significant cause of chronic lower limb pain, yet more than 30 percent of women choose to wear high heels daily.

Neal M. Blitz, DPM, an aesthetic and reconstructive foot and ankle surgeon, finds that the higher the shoes, the greater the rates of injury that can be associated with the shoe. And the risk increases with uneven terrain. According to Blitz, a higher and skinnier heel on a stiletto-style shoe is the most likely to result in a fall.

One type of injury due to high heels is a Lisfranc's fracture dislocation, which is referring to the joint that is impacted. The joint involves a strong ligament that interlocks with nine separate articulating bones. Blitz simply refers to this injury as a high-heel foot fracture.

In addition to fractures, high-heeled shoes can cause a Haglund's Deformity, which is an abnormal enlargement of the back of the heel bone. It is also referred to as a "pump bump" as it is often found in women who wear high-heeled pump-style shoes.

Because high-heeled shoes can compress the toes and foot tissue, the wearer can suffer a neuroma. The neuroma is a benign growth of nerve tissue but can result in pain, burning sensation, tingles or numbness in the toes or ball of the foot.

Singers, celebrities, politicians and everyday fashionable women can be impacted by footwear malfunctions. Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard had three falls from grace in 2012 due to high heel malfunctions. She handled her shoe mishaps with humor.

"For men who get to wear flat shoes all day every day, if you wear a heel it can get embedded in soft grass," Gillard said after her heel got stuck and she fell to the ground during a visit to India. "And then when you pull your foot out, the shoe doesn't come ... and the rest of it is as you saw."

All in all, the lower the heel, the more sensible the shoe. And having laces that better bind the shoe to the foot can prevent these shoe malfunctions.

But then most women have such a shoe in their wardrobe. It is commonly called a sneaker.