Oh, great

Janean just sent me this article, and I must say, I feel a little heart broken this morning....but not enough to stop me. It's quite an addiction for me. Maybe later in life I'll need a 12 step program to cure me of my flip flop obsession, but for now, I'm like the smoker that thinks that they'll never get emphasema or lung cancer....

Trouble Afoot With Flip-Flops
By KIM PAINTER, USA Today

Aching feet: It sounds like one of those middle-aged problems.But these days, Dallas sports podiatrist Marybeth Crane is seeing "whole soccer teams of 16-year-old girls" complaining of the sort of foot pain she used to see mostly in "older, fatter" people.The culprits aren't the girls' soccer cleats or even the high heels they break out on prom night. Instead, Crane blames their flip-flops -- the flimsy, slip-on, toe-thonged sandals that girls and young women nationwide have adopted as their warm-weather, everyday shoe uniform."Flip-flops were never meant to be everyday shoes," says Crane, a spokeswoman for the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons." They were meant to wear from the locker room to the pool and back."

Marlene Reid, a podiatrist in the Chicago area, agrees: "Flip-flops are great for the beach as an alternative to being barefoot." For the rest of life, she says, "there are better choices."The problem, foot doctors say, is that flip-flops offer little cushioning and no arch support, and they force their wearers into an unnatural, toe-gripping, foot-slapping gait.Among the possible consequences: Sore arches and heels, which can progress to chronic conditions, including inflamed Achilles tendons and plantar fasciitis, inflammation of the connective tissue between the heel bone and the toes. Heel calluses (from the pounding). Hammer toes (from the gripping). Irritation between the toes (from the toe thongs), which can lead to nasty fungal infections.