Flip Flops

After all the rain we’ve had it might seem unlikely that the sun will ever shine again. Hopefully it will peek out from behind the clouds soon, and when it does, what are you going to put on your feet?

If you start getting pain on the sole or top of your foot, or if you feel your achilles tendon at the back of the ankle is stiff in the morning, it might be that you’ve chosen to wear the wrong Summer shoes. Or it might mean you’ve put the wrong shoes on for too long, too soon.

When the sun comes out and our socks come off it’s very easy to put on a pair of flat sandals, like flip flops. For a lot of people this causes no problems, but every year we see people in the clinic with terrible foot or leg pain that started after they switched from shoes to sandals.

To avoid becoming one of these people, my suggestions are:

– Don’t switch to full-time sandals. If you’ve gone from wearing supportive shoes wear those shoes occasionally so you make a transition from supportive to flat.
– Look at the inner sole of your most comfortable shoes and see if you can find a similar shape in a sandal.
– If you have previously had foot or leg pain in the Summer, consider getting sandals with a bit of support. There are many brands now that have a little bit of an arch support
– If the pain you got last Summer hasn’t really gone away, get a podiatrist to look at your feet.

So if you’re planning your Summer footwear, make sure you get something that won’t upset your feet, or that you break them in slowly. It’s worth taking that extra care and time!