Toning or unstable footwear had been all the craze a decade ago. The makers of those shoes used to make unbelievable claims for the shoe. These promises ranged from helping weight loss to reducing cellulite to toning the buttocks to fixing low back pain. These shoes had a rocker on the bottom aimed at increasing muscle activity to get those claimed benefits. Unfortunately, the evidence did not stack up and there was a lot of litigation from dissatisfied customers and many companies had to make multi-million dollar settlements with the Ftc.
While all of that is in the past you can find a few of these shoes available and they still do have certain support from those people who are experienced with the shoes. The shoes do affect the way that you walk and then for some people that may potentially result in an improvement in some things like low back pain. Similarly, it might make some people with low back pain feel worse. There is a lot of effort being directed at researching precisely what toning shoes actually do and precisely who can benefit from them and who could be harmed by them. Different people will likely react in different ways to them.
Podiatrists appear to especially like these types of toning shoes because of the type of patients that they see. The rocker sole nature of the shoe means they are especially helpful for those with a painful big toe joint, as with these shoes the joint does not need to move as much. However, while that might be useful for that joint it will put more strain on the ankle joint so might create or make worse problems at the ankle joint. It was concerns like this that led to the litigation issues regarding the toning shoes in the past and need to be carefully considered by anyone suggesting or using these shoes. They do have their uses and they can be helpful for the right people with the appropriate condition.