Time to Ditch The Flip-Flops

These aren't a picture of my flip-flops. This summer I wore I think the brand Avia or something like that. That's one of the things I love about summer is wearing shorts and flip-flops. I barely wore my sneakers unless I was going on a long walk, and never anything but shorts.

Now that it is officially fall, the days are getting cooler. So unfortunately I started wearing pants on some of the days. I wore shorts this past weekend because it was pretty warm out. And will wear them if we still get a warm day here and there. I will definitely miss wearing shorts everyday!

I also loved wearing my flip-flops all summer. But I think it is maybe time to ditch them. I saw a while back on the Today Show, how a new study showed that flip- flops can change the way a person walks and that can invariably lead to foot and ankle pain. The study also found that when you wear flip-flops you take shorter steps then when you wear other kinds of shoes. So that puts more stress on your joints. They're also not good for your toes. Because you have to scrunch up your toes to keep the flip-flops on, and this will actually hurt the muscles in your toes.

So the suggestion is not to wear flip-flops as your everyday shoe. Wear them to the beach or a quick trip to the mall. If you have any kind of pain from them switch to a different shoe for awhile. And unlike other shoes that are more comfortable when there broken in, the opposite is true for flip-flops. You should get a new pair if they get to broken in. (I didn't follow any of these suggestions this summer, but will in the future.)

My legs and ankles started to hurt about a week ago, and I'm pretty sure its from the flip-flops I wore all summer. So until next summer I'm ditching the flip-flops. And next year I might invest in a little better kind. Maybe even sandals!