by Ann Bibby
I have always been amazed by my kindergartener’s hardiness. Long before the trees bud, she is clamoring for summer footwear which become the mainstay of her wardrobe until long after the same trees are bare again in the fall. Perhaps the shoe fetish gene skips generations, but Crocs and flip flops proliferate in her closet and in the both the front and back entry ways of our home.
But when she woke me at 3 A.M. this morning, complaining yet again of “growing pains” in her ankles and lower leg, my thoughts returned to a Newsweek article this week about a recent study conducted on the perennial favorite of warm weather footwear. It seems that free-wheeling summer foot wear is more than just a good way to stub a toe or skin a knee (or two). Researchers at Auburn have discovered that wearing flip flops changes the way a wearer walks, increasing the likelihood of foot and ankle problems that are usually associated with high heel wearers.
After studying the gaits of 39 female and male flip flop wearers and comparing them to the same students wearing athletic shoes, they discovered that flip flops shorten a person’s gait. This means more steps are needed to go the same distance covered by someone wearing sturdier shoes, resulting in stress on the body that can cause muscle and joint pain in the legs.
The famous shuffle successful flip flop wearers perfect is also a problem.
In order to keep the sandal on the foot, the toes need to “hang on”. This is achieved by scrunching the toes, resulting in the wearer not being able to lift his/her foot as high. Painfully throbbing toes and even plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the connective tissue that links the toes and the heel, can occur and is a common source of heel pain. Being sedentary and/or overweight will only add to the problem despite the new “fit flop” craze, I suspect.
Researchers don’t think that a total shunning of the flip flop is necessary, but like all things moderation and common sense are good guides.
Flip flops should be broken in like any other shoe, and if problems occur a person might benefit from alternating between them and a shoe with more support. People with flat feet might also want to consider some kind of arch support.
Though I doubt highly that this study will impress the dangers of flip flops on my five year old, it has made an impression on me, and the possibility of eliminating 3 A.M. wake up calls for ice packs by imposing a bit of parental moderation seems worth the whining likely to ensue. It’s a good thing I seem to have inherited my mother’s selective deafness.
