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A Little Instability is Creating a Whole Lot of Cash for Sneaker Makers:
Toning shoes - which are sneakers designed with an unstable sole so leg muscles have to work harder to maintain balance during everyday activities - are the fastest-growing segment in the footwear industry, with sales expected to jump fivefold to $1.5 billion this year.
But the shoes, advertised as sculpting your legs while you walk and giving you a perfect bottom, are also raising concerns about false fitness promises for consumers.
At the price of approximately $100 a pair you can burn more calories, reduce joint pain, and improve your posture. "Change your life" and "Get in shape without setting foot in a gym" are among the promotions Sketchers is using for its best-selling Shape-ups toning shoes, which have a rolling bottom that simulates walking on soft sand.
But what really is the price you'll pay for these new shoes? Some fitness specialists suggest the shoes could be doing more harm than good. A study released by the nonprofit American Council on Exercise found that toning shoes failed to live up to promises made by manufacturers.
"Toning shoes appear to promise a quick-and-easy fitness solution, which we realize people are always looking for," Cedric X. Bryant, the council's chief science officer, said in the report. "Unfortunately, these shoes do not deliver the fitness or muscle toning benefits they claim. Our findings demonstrate that toning shoes are not the magic solution consumers were hoping they would be."
Medical professionals question the value of a sneaker that requires an instruction booklet. (Sketchers recommends limiting use to 25 to 45 minutes per day for beginners and guides consumers to find their balance by stepping in the middle of the soft foam heel, rolling forward, and pushing off with their toes.)
"There are major risks, especially for adults," said David M. Davidson, national president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. He has treated patients who developed Achilles tendonitis and stress fractures that he suspects were caused by wearing toning shoes. "Creating instability, on adults especially, is not a good thing."
Although wearing these shaping shoes is not encouraged by the American Podiatric Medical Association they recently gave Reebok's Easy Tone shoes a seal of acceptance that recognizes products that allow normal foot function, promote quality foot health, and show "evidence of usefulness and safety." The shape of the shoe is much different than the other tone up shoes and the "instability" factor does not cause the shoe to be 4 inches of the ground.
Shape up shoes now account for six of the top 10 best-selling athletic sneakers in the country, according to the latest list released by SportsOne Source. The price of this shoe runs $100 per pair but in the long run what will be the true price of these "miracle" shoes?
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