By Emma Manaton

The summer is well upon us which means good weather (hopefully), BBQ’s, holidays and a chance to release our toes from the imprisonment of footwear of the winter months!

But are flip flops best thing for our feet?

Flip Flops Feel Fun but Fail your Feet

Although lovely to feel our feet are free, this can also lead to a few problems. Flips flops are generally made from thin flat plastic with no additional heel or arch support. Often requiring you to grip with your toes to keep the flip flop on your foot. This is a drastic change from the footwear you have been wearing all winter. This can cause added stress and excessive motion to your foot, when it’s used to being much more supported. This can give you problems like calf tightness, heel or Achilles pain, plantar fasciitis (sole of foot) and shin pain.

Now I’m not saying NEVER wear your flip flops and keep your toes locked up forever. By all means set your toes free but if your going for a walk or know you will be walking a lot that day. Think about wearing more supportive footwear (think trainers or more comfy sandals with a strap at the back) and save yourself an injury!

If you are suffering from any of these, maybe it’s time to address your footwear and if it still persists give us a call and get checked out?