Crocs are beloved by many youngsters. Why is social media full of warnings about how they is perhaps dangerous for kids’s growing toes and gait? (Story aired on All Issues Thought of on Oct. 8, 2024.)
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Let’s discuss crocs now – not the spiny reptiles. We’re speaking in regards to the squishy footwear. Love them or hate them, they’re in every single place, particularly amongst youngsters and teenagers. However are they dangerous for growing toes? NPR well being correspondent Maria Godoy investigates.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: One, two, three…
I am standing outdoors an elementary college in suburban Maryland…
13…
…Watching youngsters stream out on the finish of the day…
Fourteen, 15, 16…
…Counting what number of of them are…
Seventeen…
…Carrying Crocs.
That is a grown-up.
It is loads.
Twenty-one pairs of Crocs in, like, two minutes or much less.
At the same time as fall will get underway, youngsters and teenagers are nonetheless turning to Crocs as their footwear of alternative. That features 14-year-old high-schooler Liliana Saunders. She says Crocs are her each day shoe.
LILIANA SAUNDERS: As a result of they’re snug, and I like – they’re very easy and practical, particularly, like, getting out of the home. And, like, it’s totally fast and straightforward.
GODOY: Dr. Pria Parthasarathy is a podiatrist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Affiliation. As a mother of three, she says Crocs might be nice for sure conditions.
PRIA PARTHASARATHY: I say that Crocs are a godsend whenever you’re making an attempt to get out of the home as a result of my 3-year-old can put them on independently.
GODOY: However as a podiatrist who sees many youngsters and teenagers, she’s seeing points that come from sporting Crocs all day, each day.
PARTHASARATHY: Like heel ache, arch ache, typically extra hammertoes as a result of it’s important to grip the shoe to maintain them on.
GODOY: Parthasarathy is certainly one of many podiatrists who say Crocs aren’t the only option for all-day footwear for teenagers. She says one downside is that Crocs and their knockoffs are usually not notably secure. She says additionally they lack arch help, they usually’re not nice at wicking away moisture, which may result in blisters over time.
PARTHASARATHY: These issues mixed – it does not make it a extremely good, secure type of footwear for all-day use.
GODOY: Dr. Amiethab Aiyer is an orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon at Johns Hopkins. He says the issue with sporting any footwear which can be a little bit too unfastened is that, if it’s important to type of shuffle in them whenever you stroll, that may result in delicate adjustments in your gait. And over time, these adjustments can take a toll on the foot, the ankle and even the remainder of the physique.
AMIETHAB AIYER: As foolish as it would sound, you understand, the foot bone related to the ankle bone – all these items are interlinked.
GODOY: We reached out to Crocs. They are saying they’re unaware of any substantiated well being problems from their merchandise. Aiyer agrees there’s not quite a lot of long-term information, and he is not coming in your Crocs. In any case, his youngsters put on them, too.
AMIETHAB AIYER: Utilizing them is nice, however they might have downstream results in the event that they’re the one kind of shoewear that you simply’re utilizing.
GODOY: Ideally, youngsters would alternate their Crocs with different sturdier footwear, particularly when operating round. If youngsters refuse to put on anything, Parthasarathy says simply preserve an eye fixed out for indicators of foot discomfort, like complaints of drained or hurting toes. However so long as they appear OK, she says it isn’t value combating over Crocs.
PARTHASARATHY: Even when they put on all of them day they usually’re not complaining of foot points, no, it isn’t the worst factor on the earth.
GODOY: In any case, she says, dad and mom have sufficient to fret about already.
Maria Godoy, NPR Information.
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