Flip Flops: Too Much Flopping Can Be Bad For Your Health

ABC News:

They say that beauty comes at a price, and this summer, our feet are the victims. As flip-flops become more popular, so too do the long- and short-term health problems that come with them.

"Flip-flops have singlehandedly caused more problems with people's feet in the last couple years than probably any other type of shoe," said Dr. Rock Positano, a podiatrist at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[Deborah]

09:20 PM on 08/26/2007

I and everyone I know wear flip- flops until the snow flies. it is even possible to wear them with socks when it gets too cold!!

A thick soled flip flop conforms to your foot and is the most comfortable foot wear ever invented.

[think4yourself]

12:45 PM on 08/24/2007

"In Europe and America flat foot is a common reason for attendance at a children's orthopaedic clinic, but in India children are seldom brought for treatment for flat foot. The few children who do attend with this complaint are from affluent urban families and they all wear shoes. In our clinic we have never seen a child from the farming community or from the family of a manual labourer who complained of flat foot."

http://www.unshod.org/pfbc/pfmedresearch.htm

There is enough research to prove that shoes CAUSE foot problems, and that podiatry as a practice has a miniscule place in regions where shoes are not worn regularly.

It's a shame that our feet in the western world are already busted from being bound in shoes from an early age. I am a big advocate of being barefoot and wear flip-flops (next best thing if you haven't committed to conditioning your feet, or if it's impractical) every oppotunity I have.

If you visit a country where people don't wear shoes, their feet have a noticeably different shape. They are squared-off. Ever notice that our feet are squared-off, but our shoes are rounded-off?

It's also a shame that such an inane story would be published without at least giving the opposing viewpoint. How about a story that reports the number of people who are injured wearing shoes? Another could be the "risks" of wearing shoes: including bunions, corns, lack of muscle tone, etc.

To mangle a quote (apologies to the source):

"If you support something that doesn't need it, you end up crippling it."

A little advice to prevent injury...watch where you step.

[JScott]

11:22 AM on 08/24/2007

Ya just know this 'study' is probably somehow connected to the shoe industry. I mean if this was really that bad, large numbers of Japanese would all be non ambulatory, since 'flip flops'
(thongs or the correct name 'zori') have been footwear (along with 'geta') in Japan for centuries with no real complications. And you look at what accidents there are in the link, they are about falling or slipping and that has more to do with the sole that gets slippery when damp (and zori are NOT unique in that respect) they can put different non slip soles on them. People clean the floors once in a while! You'd think ABC (AKA Disney/ABC) news would be a little more judicious in reporting this after all this is the same network that promotes John Stossel stories that go against conventional thought (and he's usually incorrect). But that's typical of corporate MSM.

[ParadiseDiva]

09:17 AM on 08/24/2007

What?...are you guys NUTZ ???!!!

I wear little else (on my feet). Normally, I'm barefoot...unless of course I leave the property, and then I throw on the flops (I actually call them thongs).

They're great !...come off in a jiff, can get wet, are cheap, and come in every color and pattern possible.

You wanna talk fugly?...CROCS !

I bet you all wear Crocs.

Heh.

[klondiker]

12:19 AM on 08/24/2007

Someone should tell Mitt Romney.

[jetdog]

05:07 PM on 08/23/2007

If you are at the beach, they make sense. If you are anywhere else, you are mentally ill. Dank you.

[SkyPilot126]

04:53 PM on 08/23/2007

Too much Flip Flopping can be bad for your health AND for the Health of our Nation, as we are finding out by all the Constant Flip Flopping of Bush on Every, yes EVERY isusse.
Every day, a new flip flop from the one who has constantly flopped.

[Libsrule]

03:15 PM on 08/23/2007

I've never been a wearer of flip flops. Never been comfortable in them, make my feet feel wierd. and I always get some sort of irritation where the little support piece goes between my toes.

Nope just went in for slip on tennies for quick runs to the beach or store.

Flip flops are uggggly too.

[LORISNJ]

03:11 PM on 08/23/2007

I think this is a veiled attempt to get women back into high heels - I can't believe that flip flops are worse than high heels - I don't wear either.

Men like their women in those sexy spiked heels.

[cocksman]

03:01 PM on 08/23/2007

....IS THIS A WELL DESERVED CHEAP SHOT AT GIULIANI.

[grainger5]

02:33 PM on 08/23/2007

I think it's a good thing that people are getting hurt wearing those ridiculous things. I hate the way they look, and I hate the way most people's feet look in them, because most people have such goddamned ugly featsies. But most of all, I hate the fucking annoying sound they make when the goddamned fucker wearing them is fucking goddamned walking. Bastard shoes, I hate 'em.

[ecotopian]

02:43 PM on 08/23/2007

Don't mince words, tell us how you really feel:)

I don't wear flip flops at all because they aren't comfortable. The one trend I never understood was wearing them in the winter...in the Northeast. Brrr.

[grainger5]

02:51 PM on 08/23/2007

Yes. YES!!! Let's send those people to Cuba!

[JCali]

05:20 PM on 08/23/2007

Well said Grainger. I couldn't agree more.

[PerryClease]

02:21 PM on 08/23/2007

They are very popular in my neighborhood of San Diego.

I may wear them around the house, at the beach, or around a swimming pool, but when I am out and about I want to protect my feet.