Rocker Bottom Shoes Put to the Test

They are the shoes with the funky bottom, the sole that turns your walk into a roll.

"I like how they make me feel. They definitely have me stand differently. I'm walking differently," said Autumn Moricz.

They used to be sold only in specialty shoe stores, but now are being marketed to the masses by companies such as Sketchers. The claim is that the shoes will help you burn more calories while toning your abs, legs and buttocks.

"Everybody wants to know does it really do what it claims to do," said John Ingham with Foot Solutions.

"I don't buy into all the hype that you're going to drop two pants sizes or anything," Moricz said.

We wanted to know if just wearing the fancy fitness shoes would burn more calories, so we put them to the treadmill test. More on that later in this report, but first some sole searching.

Foot Solutions is where FOX 2's Deena Centofanti went to take the original rocker bottom shoes for a stroll. Called MBT, the patented sole was designed by a Swiss engineer.

"The sole is actually pushing you into alignment, moving your pelvis under your shoulders, under your hips, and that's how it puts you back," Ingham said.

He then asked Deena, "You feel your shoulders up and back." She answered, "I do. I feel like I got good posture."

With a serious tone, Ingham told her this is a health and wellness shoe. But will the curve improve your swerve?

"People know when you're in alignment it engages more core muscle, so people are toning. My clients come back and tell me I've noticed toning," said Ingham.

On the Sketcher's website, there are case studies with fancy charts, but will our research reveal?

Beaumont Hospital Exercise Physiologist Tom Spring put them to the test. First, he wore his regular running shoes on the treadmill. Then he put on the Chung Shi's, a $250 pair of rocker bottom shoes.

"The only difference in the whole test will be the different pair of shoes. So, the oxygen consumption will translate into how many calories are being burned," said Spring.

After a brisk walk, some calculations, charts and graphs, the conclusion was encouraging.

"I am surprised," Spring said.

Spring found he had burned one extra calorie a minute with the rocker shoes.

"One calorie per minute doesn't sound like a lot, but as we talked about over the course of a day or an exercise, that might be 60, 70, 80, 90 calories extra for a workout or 200, 300, 400 calories a day, which is pretty significant," Spring said.

The American Council on Exercise has weighed in with another opinion saying don't buy the shoes expecting a bigger calorie burn or more muscle toning, but if the shoes get couch potatoes to start walking, it's a good choice.

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RELATED LINK:

American Council on Exercise Study: Will Toning Shoes Really Give You A Better Body?