Do you remember wearing jelly shoes with “bead socks?” They were the rage in the 1980s and early ‘90s. Well, jelly shoes have made a comeback in recent years, especially in sandal versions.
Jelly sandals now come in a variety of brands, styles, and colors – some even from well-known designers like Chanel and Jimmy Choo. While jelly sandals may be cute and fashionable – as well as cheap since they’re made of PVC plastic – they can be bad for your feet.
Reasons Why Jelly Sandals Wreak Havoc on Your Feet
Although you may find some styles in rubber, usually jelly sandals are entirely made of PVC plastic. While plastic may make these sandals durable and waterproof for beach and pool use, it doesn’t allow your feet to breathe. When your feet can’t breathe, they may sweat more. Excessive sweating can cause:
- Strong foot odor that may be embarrassing to some people.
- Foot irritation leading to contact dermatitis, athlete’s foot, or blisters.
- Your foot to slip and slide out of your shoe which may result in you twisting or turning your ankle.
Leather is a better choice for sandals since they allow your feet to breathe compared to plastic and other man-made materials.
Jelly sandals provide your feet with no arch support, which can make your feet roll inward while walking, causing pain to your heels, arches, balls of your feet, and toes.
Since jelly sandals often are flat with little or no heel, they can cause you to strain your Achilles tendon, resulting in pain radiating from your heel up the back of your leg. If you’re used to wearing heels, a flat shoe can overstretch your calf muscles. Also, flat jelly sandals can alter your gait and make you take shorter steps, especially if you feel like the sandals may slide off your feet due to the sandals’ fit or from excessive sweating. This altered gait can cause hip and lower back pain since your hips, knees, and feet are out of alignment because your feet are not properly supported.
Jelly sandals often provide no cushioning for your feet since they are constructed of a thin piece of hard plastic. Since your feet are not cushioned during walking or running, they will absorb the full force this movement places on your bones and muscles, leading to arch and heel pain, as well as possible injury from stress fractures.
The hard plastic edges on the straps and the insoles of jelly sandals also can cause friction when the plastic rubs against your heels, the balls of your feet, and/or your toes. Blisters, cuts, calluses, and corns may form from repeated friction.
Pair Your Jelly Sandals with ezWalker® Performance Insoles for Increased Comfort
Since summer and sandals just go together, you can make your jelly sandals more comfortable by wearing them with ezWalker Performance Insoles. When you purchase ezWalker Performance Insoles, you will get insoles that are specifically designed to the contour of each one of your feet. That means you will receive customized support for your medial, lateral, and trans-metatarsal arches to relieve pressure on the arches, heels, the balls of the feet, and toes. You will walk better since your feet are cushioned, and your gait is re-aligned correctly due to the bio-mechanical repositioning of your feet. Therefore, your feet will feel better at the end of the day.
For open-toe, open-heel jelly sandals, secure the ezWalker Performance Insoles to the foot bed of each shoe with a piece of Velcro® to keep it securely in place. The Velcro allows you to easily remove the ezWalker Performance Insole, so you can use them in all of your shoes – casual and athletic footwear, work shoes and boots, and even fashionable high heels.
Visit WalkEzStore.com to learn why ezWalker Performance Insoles are the right insoles for your feet. When your feet feel good, you feel good!
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I have orthodics from my craioprhctor. i did not step in a box but i stepped in a scale type devise that scanned my feet. Is this a good type of orthodic? I have them for 2 months now and just the last 2 weeks developed terrible blisters on both big toes and have pain in my right lower calf and lower right shin area. My marathon is in a few weeks. HELP! should i finish my training w/o the orthodics? I even just bought a new pair of sneakers thinking that was the problem
Sorry I just got to this comment on my blog post. I’ve been having some tech issues and just got them resolved, so playing catch-up. I fear I’m too late to help you for your marathon but maybe not for the next one. However I will give you my opinion on your concerns. I use to make orthotics from a digital scanner. They’re just ok, but it depends on how well the scan was done and the tech in the lab as he or she reviews the scan and makes the digital adjustments. Sometimes there are no adjustments made and you only get the in store scan to produce the product. This is the problem with custom orthotics. Most people want to make your foot better with their process after the impression of your feet is made. With my impression process, even though foam box impressions are revered as “old school”, my process allows your foot to tell me what it wants in the way of proper bio-mechanical support so your feet can walk as efficient as possible. Better impressions make better orthotics is my theory and it usually holds true. My products come with a 90 day money back guarantee and must work because the return rate is less than 4%. My business, the WalkEZstore.com is a not a franchise but born out of my desire to do it better than most when it comes to making quality custom orthotic products and to offer a guarantee because no one should pay hundreds of dollars for a piece of equipment that doesn’t perform properly. My goal is to get your feet to function properly and improve your foot’s health over time. The impression process I’ve developed have proven to do just that and my testimonial back me up. The WalkEZstore is in it’s 4th year and we are making great strides in education and customer satisfaction, something we are very proud of. When I say we I mean myself and my adviser. We don’t just want to sell you a product we want to educate you as to why you need it and help you understand your unique feet so you can fit them with the best fit possible no matter what type of shoe you want or need. Sad truth is too many shoe companies and over the counter arch support companies have done a great job of marketing their products to you and making you believe that you need them. Where in reality all those products are made in mirror matched images, feet are not. And none of those products were ever made for either one of your unique feet. Take my ezWalker Performance custom orthotics and put them in a neutral shoe (one with little to no built in arch support) and you have the best fit ever. Think if it like this. Your feet are the wheel on your car, your shoe is the tire, my ezWalker is your balance and alignment for both. Just like a good foundation for your house, if it’s not set solid and straight the house will suffer. We should be walking on the earth, but we aren’t so we suffer. Suffer no more. Contact me if you are interested in what I have to offer or simply want more information. I’m glad to help. I’m Kathy Carandang, certified pedorthist and I am the WalkEZStore.com. Thanks, I hope to hear from you. And remember…when your feet feel good you feel good!