Ballet flats are back in style – but podiatrists warn they could ruin your feet
- Ballet flats are back in style, but they could cause lasting foot issues
- Podiatrists recommend choosing shoes with additional cushioning
- READ MORE: I’m a podiatrist – here’s what your feet say about your health
The ballet flat, a staple of early-2000s fashion is making a comeback, with celebrities and career women alike donning the dainty footwear.
In recent months, they’ve been seen on celebrities like Meghan Markle, Gigi Hadid, and Angelina Jolie. On TikTok, videos with #balletflats have more than 160 million views.
But even though ballet flats are trendy again, health experts warn they could ruin your feet and cause injuries like stress fractures, bunions, shin splints and blisters.
The main issue, podiatrists claim, is that they’re flat and flimsy without proper support for your feet. While the delicate shoes can be useful for ballet dancers who need extra flexibility, their design means they don’t offer any arch support, which is important for balance, walking, standing, and running.
Gigi Hadid (left) and Angelina Jolie have both recently stepped out in ballet flats, a staple of early-2000s fashion
From pesky cracked heels to more serious symptoms, such as swelling, your feet often show symptoms of disease before any other part of your body
Dr Robert Khorramian, a podiatrist in Santa Monica, California, told Who What Wear last year this lack of support makes ballet flats the worst shoe for foot health.
Lack of arch support can lead to plantar fasciitis – inflammation of the tissue in the foot that is engaged while walking and other foot movements.
This condition causes a stabbing pain in the bottom of the foot, close to the heel, which usually gets worse with the first few steps after waking up or from standing for long periods of time.
MedScape estimates one million Americans visit doctors every year for plantar fasciitis.
Wearing shoes without arch support can also worsen neuromas, a type of inflammation in the foot nerves and between the bones in the feet. This is also known as ‘Morton’s neuroma.’
According to the Mayo Clinic, patients with neuromas in the feet may feel like they’re standing on a pebble. Other signs of the condition include burning pain in the ball of the foot that radiates to the toes, and tingling or numbness in your toes.
Wearing ballet flats for long periods of time can also lead to injuries such as shin splints and stress fractures due to repetitive stress and little arch support. A shin splint, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, causes pain along the tibia, or the shin bone, which runs in the front of the lower leg.
Meanwhile, a stress fracture is a tiny crack in the bone caused by repetitive force or overuse. This causes pain and tenderness. Wearing ballet flats increases the repetitive force on your feet while walking because the bottoms of the shoes are extremely thin and do not provide cushioning between the foot and the ground.
Dr Khorramian recommended buying ballet flats that have a cushioned sole for increased support and comfort and ones that have enough room for your toes to fit more comfortably to avoid painfully cramming them into a pointed shoe.
