By Ashley Hall
 
September 9, 2010
 
Just about everyone is looking for get-fit-quick ideas, and one of the newer options are those funky looking fitness shoes.
 
However, before investing money, you might want hear the facts about fitness shoes and find out if they really work.
 
When Kay Baney goes walking, she makes sure she wears her Sketchers Shape Ups.
 
"It feels good on my back, I don't know what it is, but it really, it feels good," Baney said.
 
These shoes are part of a growing wave in fitness footwear touting muscle toning as a benefit.
 
"They're interesting because the idea is they are trying to create a more natural barefoot environment, walking on unstable terrain, like sand," Podiatrist Dr. Kendrick Whitney said.
 
So do they work?
 
"Research has shown that these really give a very good workout to lower extremity muscles, calf muscles, thigh muscles, core muscles, also abdominals, buttocks, gluteals," Whitney said.
 
According to Whitney, that toning is thanks to a design that veers away from sole stability, and instead puts you off balance.
 
"It strikes at a much more severe angle, rolls through and then off, which gives much more motion and exercise to the leg muscles in the sagittal plane, or side to side," Whitney said.
 
That wobble, though mostly beneficial, can be hazardous.
 
"We certainly don't want to use them if they have vertigo, dizziness. An unstable shoe could really create a situation that could cause falls," Whitney said.
 
And take time to adjust to the new feel.
 
"Perhaps 25-minutes-a-day, and gradually getting used to it. Certainly not wearing these for long periods right out of the box," Whitney said.
 
But once you're used to it, you can muscle more from a walk.
 
In a small study, just published, the American Council on Exercise found no significant change in muscle tone.
 
Those researchers add that the biggest advantage of the toning shoes is that people who otherwise may not have been exercising are now using them to get some physical activity.