New York Podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zong adds sandals and other flat shoes to the list of offenders; “instead of mimicking the movement of walking barefoot and allowing the foot to naturally roll from heel to toe, a soft-soled shoe actually creates more work for the muscles of the foot therefore tiring them out faster.”

A study published recently by Auburn University showed that flip flop wearers took shorter steps and didn't raise their toes up as much as they did in their normal gaits when stepping forward. According to Dr. Zong, “…the lack of support will generally cause more injury than good.”

His prescription: sport flip flops – or any other shoe that can stress the foot, like high heels – for just a few hours a day.

Girlawhirl's noticed that when she wears her FitFlops her feet feel much better than when she wears a typical flip flop. Of course she knows all about the “gym in a shoe” concept behind FitFlops, and that they've actually been designed to be far more stable than a regular flip flop. The webbing on the FitFlop is designed to hold the foot quite high up across the instep, keeping it aligned and stable. In addition the higher heel on a FitFlop has been engineered to absorb 36% more shock when the wearer's heel strikes the ground than a regular flip flop. So there's no need for her to take off her FitFlops after just an hour or two.