Most Dangerous Types of Footwear Ranked
The Californer/10360686

FRESNO, Calif. - Californer -- Slippers cause the most serious injuries of any common footwear, according to a new Maison Law study of emergency room data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The study analyzed National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) data from 2021 through 2025 and ranked six types of footwear two ways: by the number of ER visits each causes and by how serious those injuries are. Serious injuries are ER visits involving a fracture or a hospital stay.

Key findings:

• Slippers and boots are statistically tied for the most ER visits, at an estimated 20,750 and 20,840 visits per year.
• Slipper injuries are far more serious. 40.3% of slipper injuries involved a fracture or a hospital stay, the highest of any footwear studied.
• That's an estimated 8,359 serious slipper injuries every year.
• 23.3% of people treated in the ER for a slipper injury were hospitalized, and the most injured body part was the head.
• Sneakers and athletic shoes were the safest footwear the data could measure.

Most serious footwear injuries (% involving a fracture or hospitalization):

1. Slippers: 40.3%
2. Flip-flops: 30.9%
3. (tie) Sandals: 27.9%
4. (tie) High heels: 26.3%
5. Sneakers/athletic shoes: 20.1%
6. Boots: 17.1%

The full rankings, methodology and safety tips are available in the complete study: https://maisonlaw.com/2026/10/the-most-dangerous-types-of-footwear-ranked/

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