Since this is the cold weather season, perhaps this is the best time to address something that has been on my mind for sometime. This question relates to whether flip-flop wearers diminish their prospects for athletic success by wearing said product.
There’s no question that wearing flip-flops routinely or every day is unhealthy.
As one person put it on a podiatrists’ web site, wearing flip-flops is “incredibly unhealthy.” The list of health concerns for flipflop wearers is as long as it is varied.
First of all, the kind of flip-flops that I am generally referring to are the kind with the flat, rubbery sole with a thong holding it to the foot - the kind with porous, squishy soles with thin rubber straps beside the arches and big toe.
Syracuse (New York) hospitals published a “top 10” causes of accident and injury among the children of that area that occurred on a regular basis. Number 5 on that list was the wearing of flip-flops. The accidents listed involved slipping, tripping and falling that led to toe gashes, sprained or broken ankles, as well as broken bones in other parts of the body, not to mention the numerous scratches, punctures and abrasions that come with flip-flop use in general.
The University of Auburn did a study that bore out the fact that anybody who wears flip-flops on a regular basis will eventually start to walk differently. Auburn found out that inevitably people learn to walk with their toes scrunched up along with developing the habit of taking short steps with very little knee lift in their stride. More ominously, they produced irrefutable proof that flip-flop wearing led to permanent damage to the feet. Besides walking differently, kids also learn to run differently.
The University of Miami did studies that revealed that flip-flops are tremendous breeding grounds for more than 18,000 kinds ofbacteria. Such footwear is also an excellent host for staph germs, the kind of germ that has been known to prove fatal on occasion such as the tragic story of the Gravette football player who developed a staph infection in 2009. The university studied numerous flip-flops that had been worn for extended periods of time and they discovered that 93 percent of them carried fecal bacteria with an amazing 20 percent of them infected with E coli virus. The E coli virus is so deadly that a few years back, a local food manufacturer in Benton County nearly had to shut down their production when Ecoli was detected in a storage area outside the plant.
Beside the infectious dangers of flip-flops, there are reams of evidence to back up claims that regular flip-flop wearers will more than likely develop feet, ankle and leg problems, as well as hip and back dysfunction. The problems relate to the re-orientation of the muscles and ligaments.
Flip-flops offer no muscular or skeletal support.
That usually leads to over-pronation which gives the wearer the joy of having flat feet. That condition strains the ankle and can also lead to plantar fasciitis. Anyone who has ever had plantar fasciitis an attest to the pain and suffering attributed to it. Razorback basketball fans know of the trials of Michael Sanchez, a star high school recruit who has seen very little playing time in three seasons for the Hogs due to foot problems like the aforementioned.
Now to my main point of the column which was to answer the question “Can flip-flops lead to flops?” There are lots of kids who spend a lot of time trying to be successful in some sporting venue or another. They go to expensive sport camps, buy the right gear, and practice, practice to attain the highest level of success possible. I believe the wearing of that kind of foot gear can sabotage a sporting career to a degree unimaginable, making success a lot harder to attain.
The whole point of repetitive practice is the knowledge that our muscles have memory. If a basketball player is a poor free throw shooter, more practice time can correct the deficiency which will come when the muscles in an athlete’s body “remembers” the proper way to shoot. Coaches of all sports have had to deal with talented athletes who come in with “bad habits” or tendencies to do things in less than efficient ways.
I have long known of athletes who were quick but at the same time, were not fast. Athletes who were quick off the start but who could not accelerate. Being quick but not fast is often the result of a choppy, incorrect running mechanics. An example of that might be a football player who was quick through the hole but who was usually run down from behind after reaching daylight. Running with little knee lift, or running with an improper foot strike are ways in which quick people have trouble accelerating.
When I was coaching track in McDonald County, Mo., back in the 1980s, I had an athlete who had an incredible time for 20 to 30 meters but who never got any faster after that point. He said his back hurt him a lot and after determining that he had flat feet, I got him to a podiatrist who prescribed for him some shoe inserts which he wore daily starting in the pre-season. He then had a banner year in the 100 meters, improving his time by nearly a full second, which meant going from maybe making the finals to being a regional champion. Luckily his flat feet were his only problem. He had good knee extension and decent form but his foot strike was poor, due to the flat foot problem.
Any athlete who depends on speed for success, especially in the sports of basketball and football, ought to regard flip-flops like bears regard spring traps. Any fun or joy derived from their use will be deducted from the fun and joy of athletic success. Flip-flop wearing produces inefficient and undesired muscle memory.
There are uses for flip-flops. They are great for hanging around the house or pool, when people really aren’t traveling in them much. It’s when you wear them a lot, or to walk or run in when the problems start to manifest themselves.
If you recall my first statement in this column as this being perhaps the best time for such a subject, I said that out ofsheer cowardice. Lots of folks love their flip-flops due to their cheapness and ease of wearing and anyone criticizing their use might raise the ire of those who use the things regularly. So when folks consider their upcoming wardrobe choices before the warm days return (and I am praying that they do so soon!) they ought to think about the dangers of flip-flops.
Like chocolate cake, a little bit now and then won’t hurt you, but a steady diet could lead to a lot of problems.
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Editor’s note: John Mc-Gee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwaonline.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/09/2011