perplexed...

I've got a member in my 30 minute senior fitness class that asked me today if she can wear ballet slippers next time. She says her balance is off by wearing shoes.  Mind you this is a circuit style workout involving low impact cardio aerobics interspersed with intervals of weight lifting using dumbells. The risk in not wearing shoes being she could slip on the floor, have no real arch support, or even drop a dumbell onto one of her feet. I told her these reasons and advised her to continue wearing shoes or perhaps look into getting new shoes. Something more comfortable for her feet, but just as protective and suited for a fitness class.

Dancing around at home in her living room barefooted being one thing, in a formal fitness class under the direction of a certified fitness professional being something entirely different. I can see this kind of scenario happen. She slips and falls and drops one of her dumbells on her head. Goes to the doctor and he asks what she was doing at the time she fell. She says that she fell in a fitness class while lifting weights and wearing ballet slippers. He asks if her instructor told her whether or not it was okay to do that. Then she sues me for a million dollars.

What perplexes me is why is her balance "off" while wearing shoes in the first place? Isn't that more of a function of the shoe she is wearing? And wouldn't doing the exercises in ballet slippers (with little or no foot support) just compound the problem? In the end I told her she is free to do what she wants, she is an adult, but that I think that she should wear appropriate shoes.