Shoes for perky bums

Some of you will know that I have a bee in my bonnet about fitness shoes. You know the ones I mean. It started with MBTs  that were promoted as an "anti-shoe". Then we had Reebok Re-Tone trainers. You can't have missed the TV advert for Re-Tone. It featured about a hundred hypnotically bouncing perky bums and long legs. You probably didn't even notice the shoes to start with. OK I couldn't resist watching it again on YouTube so here it is. Try to concentrate on the shoes, I dare you.


Next in  line were Fit Flops, a craze that seems to have coincided beautifully with the summer - kudos to the Fit Flops marketing manager. Ladies, it's your dream come true! Now not only can you look cool this summer, your shoes can make you fit! How nice of you to combine two of our most important and all-consuming obsessions.


Finally, Skechers have got onto this bandwagon, with Shape-Ups. 


All these shoes (MBT people, they're still shoes in my book) share broadly the same marketing claim: to improve posture and fitness through working your body a bit harder than normal shoes. What I want to know is whether these claims are backed up by evidence. Unfortunately, my inquiries have been rather fruitless, as you will see. Which is a shame as it's the first time I've ever contacted companies to ask for the evidence behind marketing claims.


First I emailed Reebok to ask about their shoes. My email said:




Dear Sir/Madam
 
I am gathering evidence on toning trainers (including Reebok Retone/Easytone and Fit Flops) for my blog. I am particularly interested in the clinical evidence behind the marketing claims that Easytone/Reetone trainers improve muscle tone/strength and improve fitness. For example the claims in this advert: http://blog.fitnessfootwear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/reetone21.jpg.
 
I was unable to find any references to clinical trials/scientific experiments that support the use of Reetone/Easytone trainers for muscle toning on your website and I would be very grateful if you could send me the original studies. 
 
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
 
Kind regards,
Sabre


I got an auto-reply saying:

Dear Sir or Madam:

We have received materials from you that appear to include an unsolicited idea for our consideration.

While we genuinely appreciate your interest in our company, please be advised that neither Reebok International Ltd (“Reebok”), nor any of its subsidiary or affiliated companies, accepts or reviews unsolicited idea submissions including designs, marketing concepts, or inventions.  In accordance with this policy, none of the materials received from you have been reviewed or evaluated by Reebok.

Please do not send any further unsolicited ideas to Reebok as such submissions will not be reviewed or evaluated.

Sincerely,

Reebok International Ltd

I emailed again but with no further success. Bollocks to you too Reebok!

The Fit Flops people were marginally more helpful. Having emailed them with:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am gathering evidence on toning shoes for my blog which looks at the science behind consumer products. I have looked at the FitFlop website in detail and while I am pleased that there is some explanation of the science behind the products (this is sadly the exception rather than the norm), I would like more information please. I was unable to find references to published clinical research that supports the claims that FitFlops can have health benefits and would appreciate if you could send me the original studies (or full references for them).

In addition it was unclear whether the claims were based on clinical evidence or on consumer testimonials. I would be very grateful if (as well as sending me links to original studies) you could clarify the origins  (clinical evidence or testimonials) for the following claims:
  1.Reduce back stress
2. Reduce joint stress (knees, hip joints and ankles)
3. Increase muscle activation (up to 16% for womens hamstrings, up to 11% for womens lower legs, up to 30% for womens bottoms, up to 16% for mens quadricep muscles, up to 11% for mens calf muscles)

I found the above claims on  http://www.fitflop.com/benefits/. 

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Kind regards,
Sabre

I got a reply, from a real person this time, saying:

Dear Sabre,

Thanks so much for getting in touch and for your interest in our shoes. Have you seen this webpage which details the results and studies that our shoes have undergone? http://www.fitflop.com/benefits/research/  

Kind regards,

Natasha

Sigh. I emailed back reiterating that yes I had seen their website and wanted the original studies. I also emailed the two people, Dr Philip Graham Smith and Richard Jones at Salford University, who are mentioned on their website as having independently tested the technology. No reply at all, and all these emails were sent over a month ago.

All I've managed to establish so far is that the marketing is great but the customer service is woeful. Unable to actually look at the evidence, particularly for Fit Flops (which I want to buy!), I'm going to cobble together some kind of opinion anyway, based on what information I do have.

As I mentioned in my email to the Fit Flops company, my main interest is in the origin of the health claims made. Are they the result of proper controlled trials of some sort or are they based on surveys and customer feedback? This is what prompted my BS-o-meter, (taken from Fit Flops website):

"Please note that on page 10 of the Spring Summer brochure, we would like to clarify that the claim “you can improve your posture” is derived from hundreds of FitFlop wearer testimonials we have received."

One might ask why it matters that claims are based on testimonials. After all, if people say it works, where's the problem? The problem with surveys is that:

1. the group of people surveyed have a vested interest in the shoes working for them. After all, they've spent money on these shoes and so they are more likely to give a favourable response

2. we don't know how testimonials were sought or if people were randomly selected for views. Therefore we don't know what kinds of bias are present

3. The improvements are self-reported. No health professional has provided an independent assessment of whether the customer's posture or fitness has actually improved

4. There may be hundreds of people giving positive testimonials, but what is the overall number of customers? If a hundred customers out of a thousand are satisfied, that's only 10%.

5. We don't know if customers see improvements because of a placebo effect. Does posture improve because of the shoes or because after buying them, a customer starts walking a little bit taller and straighter? Expectation of an improvement can actually be the sole cause of improvement.

Without the information to hand, it's difficult to say whether there is evidence for health benefits. I have however found an excellent article that evaluates the pros and cons of Fit Flops and MBTs. I recommend you read it. I would add to the article by pointing out the risk of wearing fitness shoes as a substitute for proper exercise. This is a very real danger for lazy people like me. If they don't work and you give up proper exercise you'll end up less fit, not more.

The bottom line (geddit?) is that if they're comfortable and you like the way they look, buy them. But don't pin your hopes on them making you fit because it's difficult to find the evidence to prove it. I know it's jumping to a conclusion, but I do feel that if the evidence was solid, the Fit Flops people would have been happy to send me full references to published research.

I've just realised I didn't put a picture in this post. So here's something to counter all those female bums (cos bad science should be an equal opportunity activity).