Fitness shoes: firming butts or causing pain?

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Fitness shoes — firming butts or causing pain?

Some experts believe toning footwear is leading to more injuries.

While toning shoes like FitFlops can firm up your thighs, they can also put a

strain on your muscles, experts say.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35315656/ns/health-fitness/

Shoemakers have found a valuable marketing niche, and they're running with it.

Wellness shoes, sometimes referred to as toning shoes or shaping shoes, are

raking in millions for shoe companies. But are they actually firming thighs and

butts, and making people fitter, as promised? The answer is yes and no.

And what you don't know about them could leave you in a lot of pain, physically

and financially.

The details: At the end of last year, Sporting Goods Business reported that

wellness footwear, including brands like MBT, Skechers Shape-Ups, and Reebok

EasyTones, and the more casual FitFlops and Earth Shoes, would reel in $100 to

$200 million in 2009. The projection for 2010 is even healthier and could reach

$800 million to $1 billion. The earnings add up fast, considering MBT styles run

about $240 a pair. Other wellness shoe prices hover around $100, but with public

interest high, expect to see other shoemakers hopping into the game in the next

few months. Women, especially, are opening their wallets wide for these types of

shoes. In October 2009, toning shoes accounted for 20 percent of the female

pure-performance footwear market.

What it means: So the big question is, " Do they work? " According to podiatrist

Ross, MD, spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine and

assistant clinical professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, the answer

is yes—sometimes. " They work, but what you have to remember, because they have a

rocker bottom and negative heal, if you have a tight heel cord or Achilles

tendon, it can put tremendous strain on muscles, " explains Dr. Ross. " You have

to be really flexible, or do stretching, when you wear these types of shoes. " He

also warns that people should take care to avoid the infomercial knockoffs that

are springing up, since there's virtually no research on their effectiveness.

Many wellness shoes, such as those made by MBT, are known as rocker-style shoes

because the negative heel (lower than the toe) and curved bottom results in a

gait that, the companies claim, improves posture and creates a natural

instability that forces your buttocks and thighs to work harder.

Reebok's EasyTone shoes operate under a similar principle, except they tout two

bulb-like pods on the soles to make muscles work harder. Nearly two dozen

studies have found MBT shoes to ease knee, back, and join problems, boost

calorie burn, and firm muscles. " The bottom line is, it does exercise the

muscles of your leg and will tone your legs, " Dr. Ross says. But he questions

whether using the toning shoes gives you any benefits you can't get from regular

exercise.

" Somebody's going out and marketing and finding a niche community to say, 'You

don't have to kill yourself and run a marathon. Just walk a half mile in these

rocker bottoms and get the same effect, and more.' " he says. " The question is,

do you really need to get more, or not? I'm not so sure about that. "