The Science Behind Exercise Footwear
A few weeks ago Reebok unveiled a walking shoe purported to tone muscles to a greater extent than your average sneaker. All you had to do was slip on a pair of EasyTone and the rest would take care of itself.
Exercise without exercise? Great!
Considering the abracadabra-like quality of the shoe, it’s no surprise that it’s been selling like hotcakes. The question of course is “ does it work”?
According to a recent New York Times article on the topic, Reebok has accumulated “15,000 hours’ worth of wear-test data from shoe users who say they notice the difference.” (The company also quotes a study as support, but it’s one they commissioned themselves and only carries a sample size of five.) The two women quoted in the article further echo this sentiment.
Reebok’s head of advanced innovation (and EasyTone mastermind), Bill McInnis, says the shoe works because it offers the kind of imbalance that you get with stability balls at the gym. Unlike other sneakers, which are made flat with comfort in mind, the EasyTone is purposely outfitted with air-filled toe-and-heal “balance pods” in order to simulate the muscle engagement required to walk through sand. With every step, air shifts from one pod to the other, causing the person’s foot to sink and forcing their leg and backside muscles into a workout.
But as the Times article proposes at the end (without explicitly using the term), the shoe’s success could instead come from the placebo effect. Thanks to Reebok’s marketing efforts, buyers pick up the shoes already convinced of their success, a mind frame that may then cause them to walk faster or harder or longer, thereby producing the expected workout – just not for the expected reason.
And there are some reasons to suspect this kind of placebo effect: In a paper by Alia Crum and Ellen Langer. Titled “Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect.” In their research they told some maids working in hotels that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. Other maids were not given this information. 4 weeks later, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before, their weight was lower and they even showed a decrease in blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index.
So, maybe exercise affects health are part placebo?
Irrationally Yours
Dan
P.S. If you’ve had the opportunity to try the shoe, leave a comment and let us know what you thought.
I wear Masai Barefoot Trainers, which, from what’s described, work on much the same principle. They do actually work – for the first week or so I was exhausted after doing a couple of miles, which was easy in ordinary trainers. I still prefer the MBTs but now that I’m used to them, my muscles are trained to cope with the balancing, and it’s less of a workout.
I wear the Reebok EasyTone trainers and i do agree with this. Wearing the shoes really encourages me to go out and walk more! And that can’t be a bad thing can it?! And the fact that every time i do walk, i know that the balance pods in the soles of the shoes are working my muscles harder than in regular shoes spurs me on even more! They really do work on both aspects!
Here is an ungated link to the unpuplished paper.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/journal_issues/psinpress/crum.pdf
I wonder if these shoes, or rather the ad campaign, is such a good idea. Even if the shoes offer benefits that can’t be explained by the placebo effect, cynical consumers (including yours truly) will never give these shoes a chance because they seem…gimmicky and are dismissed right away. In addition, my perception of Reebok has become more negative because I think it is trying to sell something that is “inauthentic” (i.e. can’t live up to the ad…just like weight-loss products)
Well, if we accept the logic in the hotel maids experiment, it follows that for the shoes to work, the wearer should perceive the authority of Reebok as sorta like that of the Surgeon General. And that kind of trust is not being helped by comments on sample size!
I haven’t worn the Reebok’s but I own some of the MBT shoes… and while they do seem to give you more of a workout, I contend it’s not because of any balancing or instability… but because the shoes weigh a TON!
I have the Skechers Shape Ups that are similar. They are also heavy and throw you off balance. I don’t walk any more than usual, which is from my desk to the bathroom several times a day, but I like them. When people ask me if they “work”, I just shrug my shoulders and smile. They have a lot of cushion so they’re pretty comfortable. They are not particularly inspiring, actually, they seem to allow me to feel less guilty for not going for my walk! They come with a workout video, and it’s funny because the trainer almost topples over a few times, yet she maintains her composure quite well. I think I kept them because I thought she was funny.
See Schumann’s (possibly apocryphal) finger-exerciser before buying these!
The world is not hurting for faux-health, that is for sure. I am more concerned with foods that carry health wording on their labels but are actually corn syrup and soy concoctions (with a few artificially-derived vitamins thrown in for marketing and placebo purposes).
From reviews on the net,we know that MBT shoes will improve your posture
Thanks for your sharing.so wonderful!wish you have a lovely day and Happy New Year.
Hot sale MBTs
Cheap MBT shoes
EXPECTATION lead to Placebo effect.
But… It can also lead to DISAPPOINTMENT.
Since we all know that:
The bigger the expectations the bigger the disappiontment.
Dan:
Early this morning I was wondering about posing an “exercise” question this way: would you do it if it made you fat? Look older? Or, even created health problems? After all, many people claim to LOVE ice cream and I don’t know many that think it makes them svelte and or fit…
The point is this: there just might be something out there that you love to do, no other reason, that does make you feel better, more fit, healthier. No doubt about it the sun damages the 300 day a year surfer’s face, but not his or her heart and lungs. Riding a bike a couple hundred days a year can lead to some sore tendons not to mention the occasional cuts and bruises; yet there are few things the surfer or biker would rather do (other than eating ice cream perhaps) than being out there in the water, on the bike… no different than the skier, kayaker, etc.
The point is that we are predictably irrational when it comes to finding what will help us become, and stay fit. We suggest taking a look inside and asking yourself what you really love to do. Trying a few things. If it doesn’t feel good, it’s not fun, move on. There’s almost certainly something you will find that you will do, do often, and do for a lifetime. You probably won’t even need those fancy shoes. Check out http://www.bikeskills.com for an example of a world where it’s all about fun but the benefits are very real, and very serious.
Rob Howard
Bikeskills Skiskills Surfskills
I saw some videos of foot compression and rotation on an exercise science magazine website that made an apparently convincing case that running shoes of all kinds are ultimately inferior to bare feet for running, in terms of the foot doing what it is supposed to do in terms of shock absorption and energy transfer. They added that new ultralight “barefoot” trainers that basically add nothing but a layer of rubber to protect the skin of the foot seemed to make sense. But these are still so pricey, so I went out and bought $9 beach slippers to run in. I still get my high-end-shoe placebo effect for only nine buck. Sweet!
I’m wondering if there has been proper research done on the possible negative effects of a shoe that intentionally throws off your balance. If you have weak ankles or oddly shaped feet with a high or sunken arch, wouldn’t shoes such as this be potentially very damaging? I think I smell a future lawsuit.
I’ll allow you all to be the guinea pigs for now.
I get a better overall body toning effect by walking on stilts and 12 inch platform shoes on wet sand.
It is a pity you can not try them on dogs or other animals as they do not show the placebo effect … the gadget or drug or whatever either works or it does not.
After twenty years of shod and injured running, I recently ran my marathon PR in bare feet. As _Born to Run_ gains readership, shoe company execs must be sweating bullets.
Hi Dan,
I realy enjoyed the book and was happy to discover this blog.
In relation to this post, i’d like to suggest you try to contact an Israeli company called Apos:
http://www.apos.co.il/
(link to Hebrew site).
They have done some controled research with a product that seems to work on the same priciples of those shoes and (of course) they claim it works, but not for excercise. They use it for rehabilitation and therapeutic purposes.
Maybe they’ll have some interesting insights about whether or not this stuff should work as an excercise shoe.
This is an excellent review of the rocker sole category. Well worth viewing:
I bought some skechers shape-ups and have noticed different aches and pains in my foot and ankle when I’m NOT wearing them. Like my muscles are starting to adapt to the shoe and when I’m not wearing the shoe walking is unbearable. I do think that there might be a lawsuit in the future, as soon as enough people start showing signs of injury. I love wearing them, they are comfortable, they make my legs really feel the walk…. but like I said… I’m now stuck wearing them all the time or else I have to deal with pain near my toes and in my ankles.
Using the same technology but digusing the product,
Reebok or any researcher/person can record the results of a test patient who isn’t bombarded by the excellent marketing and compare them to those persons who are.
But hey it works out for everyone right? The people lose their weight and Reebok gets their money and the analysis get to write their papers and make arguments. =]