The problems with flip flops

My friend John Lazell a keen footballer of many years, has started training with me. When screening him about his fitness and problems he told me that his calves are like lead, very tight, achilles always feels like it's at a slightly tender stage. When I put John on the ladder i could see bio-mechanically that this was the case and that he didn't have full range of movement in his foot/ankle.

when I enquired about his footwear he told me that flip flops were his main shoe! And hey presto we may well have the answer as the flip flop requires the big toe to grab onto the flip flop, this stops it performing as it is designed to. The result of this is the load has to be distributed somewhere else. The weight still has to be transfered and the movement completed, this puts greater strain on musicles that aren't at their optimum being used in this way.

I will update this in 6-8 weeks as I continue to work with John and see how if not wearing flip flops has any effect on his calves etc.