Think with your feet to avoid injury
Slips, trips and falls cause most injuries in New Zealand. ACC data shows footwear choice can affect your safety and help prevent such incidents.
We all have our favourite form of footwear. The more casual among us love to bust out the jandal as much as we can while others prefer the class of a business shoe or high heel.
Comfortability and fashion sense are usually at the forefront of our minds when deciding what to put on our feet. But it turns out safety should also be something we think about.
Our figures show we accepted more than 2,500 new claims for injuries involving high heels between 2017 and mid-2022, while there were more than 4,200 new claims accepted for jandal-related injuries between 2018 and 2022.
Meanwhile, injuries involving crocs are on the rise, with 140 new claims over the past five years.
Figures tell half the story
ACC injury prevention leader James Whitaker says these numbers should be treated as the bare minimum as not all claimants will note on their claim form the type of footwear they were wearing when they were injured.
James says these figures are a small part of a wider problem.
“We know slips, trips and falls are the number one contributor to injuries in this country,” he says.
“They make up about 39 per cent of ACC’s claims and we support New Zealanders to recover from over 770,000 falls-related claims every year.”
It costs around $1.4 billion each year to support people to recover from these injuries.
“Most slip, trip and fall-related injuries can be prevented if we take the time to ‘Have a hmmm’ before getting stuck in,” James says.
“To avoid fall-related injuries, think about things that could pose a risk and then choose the smart way to do what you’re planning on doing.”
ACC has also just launched the Nybml app, which helps older New Zealanders with their strength and balance. It can be downloaded at the Apple or Google Play stores.
Strength and balance activities for older people
How to avoid a falls injury
Some specific tips for avoiding footwear-related injuries include:
- Wear footwear that suits your activities and the conditions you’ll be doing things in. For example, crocs might be sweet at the beach or BBQ, but they’re not designed for walking the dog through the bush or slippery terrain.
- Remove any trip hazards from in and around your home.
- Avoid ground/pathways that could be slippery.
- Remove any moss or lichen from your steps, driveways and paths.
