Flyingmac, I don't know if you're talking about PA28, which has (at lest -161 II and III) full dirty stall speed at 44 KIAS, but you should be aware that many aircraft (especially C172) have enormous CAS/IAS deviation near stall speed.
For example, C172P has a full flap (30°) stall speed 33 KIAS/46 KCAS and at 40 KIAS, CAS is 47 kts and at 50 KIAS, CAS is 53 kts. That means that if you fly the approach at 50 kts IAS, you are actually only 7 knots above stall speed and not 17 as you may think, since your approach CAS is 53 knots and stall speed (CAS) is 46 kts.
I'm not saying you should fly 70-75 knots into short strips, possibly with terrain that prevents you from going around, but you have to take any possible wind, downdraughts on final (which could force you to land on a road, railroad or river before the threshold) in consideration and 55 knots seems quite slow.