I’m a chiropractic doctor in Sarasota, and I’ll come right out and say it: I love flip-flops.
This is far from a universal opinion. In fact, my take on flip-flops is different from most.
For several decades now, there’s been a lot of emphasis on highly engineered shoes. An endless variety of designs and materials to create “optimal” soles, laces, toe box, heel cup—and all of it no doubt pushed by multi-billion-dollar shoe companies. They’ll tell you that every single activity, every single foot size and shape, and every single individual body requires highly specific, personalized (even customized) footwear.
Hear me out: Sometimes simpler is better. I’m a minimalist with regard to shoes, and I think we’ve been way too dismissive about flip-flops.
No matter your activity, your athletic achievements, your age or your body type, there’s a good chance you can reap a lot of benefits from these noisy, basic, little open-toed unsung heroes. Here’s why.
Proprioception
You might not have ever heard the word before, but “proprioception” is something that you’re using almost constantly. It’s your body’s ability to sense how it’s positioned in space, and to use that information to balance, move, and interact with other things.
There are three primary tools you use (subconsciously) for proprioception: Your eyes, of course, tell you where you are and what’s around you; your inner ears help you sense body position and movement. And then there are your feet.
Any time you’re doing something upright, your feet are giving your brain important signals about how your body is positioned and balanced. It’s how you can adjust to elevation changes, rough terrain, wind, athletic movements, and countless other variables. And those subconscious adjustments use—and therefore strengthen—an extensive network of tiny muscles throughout our body that facilitate our physical abilities.
And guess what: When you wear shoes that provide excessive “cushion” or “support” for the bottoms of your feet, you’re actually hindering your proprioception and weakening all of those incredibly important muscles.
Flip-flops, on the other hand, are a gateway to proprioception superpowers.
And bear in mind, optimized proprioception isn’t just vital for peak athletic performance. As a chiropractor in Sarasota, I have had countless aging patients over the years who are struggling with balance issues due (in part) to years and years of weakened proprioception. Wearing flip-flops helps to train all those muscles now and mitigate balance issues in the future.
Foot Mechanics
If you ask me, our bodies function pretty well when they’re allowed to perform naturally. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to blindly make “adjustments” to their mechanics. And then things start to hurt, and they make other adjustments, and it just gets worse and worse until everything’s out of whack.
Unfortunately, a lot of issues have been caused by the needlessly complex shoes that started coming out in the 90s and have only gotten more and more complicated as the years have gone by. The result has been weaker leg muscles and lots of common foot, knee, and hip issues today. People who are trying to optimize their performance are instead creating unnatural mechanics, which in turn cause pain and injuries down the line.
So it doesn’t make any sense to make more unnatural adjustments to your foot mechanics using fancy footwear, insoles, or orthotic inserts.
Instead, the key is to let your feet, ankles, and everything above to behave instinctively. Flip-flops put virtually no restrictions on how the many joints and muscles of your feet move through fundamental bipedal mechanics.
Talk to Your Sarasota Chiropractor About Footwear
As a chiropractor in Sarasota County, from Benderson Park to Venice, I see and treat everyone from elite, world-class athletes to Florida’s aging residents. And I’m here to say that the simple freedom of minimalist footwear like flip-flops could benefit many of you. If you’re curious, it’s time to ask your healthcare team.
You don’t need a shoe to do what your body already does naturally. Give your feet the chance—and the space—to excel, and the rest of your body will continue to improve.