Our feet manage the weight of our entire body for hours at a time, so taking care of your foot and ankles are important. While your ankles are one of the toughest joints in your body, improper care often leads to the motion to become stiff and painful. Caring for your ankles isn’t hard to do, but are your shoes allowing you to care for your ankles properly?

Flip Flops and Sandals

Flip flops are often people’s go-to footwear for warm weather, especially here in Florida where wearing flip flops and sandals aren’t just beachwear, but common for all types of events. However, the problem when it comes to flip flops and sandals stem from the fact that these types of shoes provide inadequate support. This can often lead to pain and disorders such as plantar fasciitis.

Ballet Flats

Ballet Flats, like flip flops and sandals, provide little to no support for your feet. Additionally, new ballet flats are hard to break in and often cause additional sores and blisters around the ankle and toes.

Heels

While we all already knew that heals weren’t the best option for ankle care, some women still wear these on a daily basis. The problem with heels is that they create pressure on the front of the feet leaving you at risk for bunions and other conditions. Heels also constrict our Achilles tendon, therefore, creating an over-extension issue when it comes to their removal.

Platform Shoes

You may think that platform shoes are better for your ankles – after all, they are more comfortable, right? Well no. The problem with platform shoes lays in the height of the shoes; the higher the heel, the higher the risk of ankle instability. Ankle instability could lead to ankle sprain.

Worn-Out Shoes

Remember those shoes you are almost ashamed to wear but you just love too much to throw away? Well those need to go, as they are hurting your ankles. Worn out shoes provide little or no shock absorption, which could make using these painful.