Flip Flops

Hi,
A couple of years ago i was going shopping for a ballet summer program when one of the workers at the store told me that flip flops are bad for your feet because they make a big gap between your big toe and little toe and i have not worn flip flops since and am begging to miss them can somebody help me? so are flip flops bad? and are they really bad for when your on pointe? HELP : (

March 7, 2007 | In Questions | 20 Comments

20 Comments »

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  1. Aside from misaligning your big and second toe, as your teacher said, they provide absolutely no support for your arch and instep. I’d find some other kind of shoe to be your favorite!!

    Comment by Zoe — March 8, 2007 #

  2. I wouldn’t say they would be unhealthy for the feet… who’s to say that there isn’t supposed to be a sizable gap between the big toe and the other toes?

    I’m able to pick things up by closing that gap, and I’m sure our ancestors, prior to the invention of shoes, would have that gap widened due to the intrusion of sticks or roots or whatever as their foot would grip it while walking uphill or something.

    I think if you look, you’ll notice there is a natural gap anyway. The only thing is, sandals only emphasize that gap, and not the small gaps between the other toes. While it’s probably not major, it would make sense to be even, like with toe socks/shoes like I’ve seen before.

    Speaking about dance, the gap is unaesthetic since the idea is to point is. If wearing sandals makes that habit harder to keep up in dance then sandals would be bad for your dancing.

    On the otherhand, if you were someone doing Tae Kwon Do where you splay the big toe and other toes apart for sidekicks to increase the structural integrity of the foot, I’d think sandals would work well. Probably not a coincidence such things arose in Japan where sandals are common.

    Support for arch and the instep aren’t totally necessary for shoes. Bare feet don’t have support for the arch or instep and they’re certainly not unhealthy. In fact, a lack of support would motivate the muscles in the foot to be that support, if progressed gradually. Such shoe support only makes sense when your foot muscles are too tired I think.

    Comment by Tyciol — March 8, 2007 #

  3. Anything that forces apart the first two metatarsals as a thong/flip flop does is just not ideal for ballet dancers. Moreover I have noticed that people who wear flip flops tend to a) shuffle and b) grip their toes, neither of which is a good idea for a ballet dancer, especially young feet that have not finished developing, as it encourages hammer toes.

    Comment by Zoe — March 8, 2007 #

  4. Ok, i guess flip flops are not the best things to wear on your feet. NOOOOOOOOOO.

    Comment by Nancy — March 9, 2007 #

  5. At school we arnt aloud to wear them because for that reason. We dont want to get bad feet

    Comment by Dylan — March 10, 2007 #

  6. I wear flip flops a lot because they let the air get to your feet and therefore must be more healthy for them, I can’t see that they’d cause too much of a problem, and it’s better than wearing trainers in the summer and having horrible sweaty feet.

    Abbie

    Comment by Abbie — March 12, 2007 #

  7. Well, aside from anything else, flip flops don’t offer much protection to your foot. I would rather be wearing running shoes (with socks to absorb the sweat), for example, if someone happens to drop something heavy or dangerous on your foot, than flip flops. A girl I know was wearing flip flops when someone inadvertently dropped a pot of boiling water and guess what happened to her feet.

    Comment by Zoe — March 12, 2007 #

  8. Actually, I got a cup of tea (not even boiling) on my arm when I was little and I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt at the time.
    Got 3rd degree burns (no functional loss, luckily), so I wouldn’t rely too much on open or cloth shoes for protection anyway.

    Zoe: is the girl all right now? Burns can be tricky to heal…

    Comment by Kaat — March 13, 2007 #

  9. where are you Zoe? because where I am it is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the summer, and if you are doing anything outside it can be extreamly hot if you are wearing anything other than sandles. wearing running shoe can make you more likely to overheat and get dehidrated, which I have known to happen to many people. of course I don’t recomend wearing sandles at times when you could injure you feet, but sometimes it is better to wear sandles. as for flip flops being bad for your feet, for some people they are worse than for others. some people have more of a gap between the first and second toes than others. for some people flip flops don’t push the toes apart at all, also there are some flip flops that the peice that goes between the toes is thinner, and pushes the toes apart much less. and I know that I personally prefer to have less foot support, arch support especially causes my feet to cramp. there are actually shoes that are much worse for your feet, such as high heels with pointed toes.

    Comment by Marissa — March 19, 2007 #

  10. How much Celsius is 90 Fahrenheit?
    I completely forgot how to calculate that…

    Comment by Kaat — March 20, 2007 #

  11. it’s 32 celsius, and to clarify, it is only colder than that at night and in the early morning, and it’s dry here, not a desert, but it doesn’t rain more than once or twice all summer. and I totaly understand about measurment conversions, I always have to get out my physics text book, it has a huge table of conversion factors.

    Comment by Marissa — March 20, 2007 #

  12. Generally I would have no idea about this question (and I wear what you call ‘flip flops’, Australia we say thongs) all the time.
    But coincidentally, in my ballet class last night the teacher mentioned ‘flip flops’ and said the reason they are bad for your feet is because they don’t support the arch, and over time you may find that when doing plies, first postition, etc, you will be rolling onto the front of your foot. She didnt say anything about the gap between the toes, though I suppose that could be a problem i guess.

    Comment by Skye — March 20, 2007 #

  13. I live in the Philippines…tropical country… and it gets blazing hot here… I’ve been wearing flip-flops since I was 4[?]… I don’t think they’re that bad…. Well I don’t know maybe we have different feet… because no matter how hard I try I can’t roll onto the front of my feet…

    Comment by Bela — March 21, 2007 #

  14. I have heard of some flip-flops called Chocos. Alot of people at the Dance studio I go to have them. I heard they are really good for Dancers feet. I am planning on getting some. I don’t know where you can get them. Does anyone know?How much are they? Thanks!!!

    Comment by Leslie — April 6, 2007 #

  15. Hey!!! I just found the site. If you Google
    ChocoShoes they pop up. They come in a
    variety of colors.

    Comment by Leslie — April 6, 2007 #

  16. Why are they so good for dancers feet?

    Comment by Nancy — April 7, 2007 #

  17. I don’t really know. I just heard that they are.

    Comment by Leslie — April 7, 2007 #

  18. I think they support your feet better and they last longer than alot of flip-flops.Because of the durable materials there made of.

    Comment by Leslie — April 7, 2007 #

  19. ooah that sucks all i have in my closet is flip flops. well that explains my low arches

    Comment by katherine — April 7, 2007 #

  20. hm…this is kinda tricky. Well I dont have the biggest arch in the world, but I do have a nice arch. About 85% of the shoes I own are flip flops and they dont do anything to me. I just like them cause they’re good for summer =] But no, I dont think they would hurt or do damage to your fett if you dance.

    Comment by Emilie — April 9, 2007 #

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