These shoes are very weird looking but stylish. The company and many independent studies claim to help with poor posture, weak muscles, painful foot and ankle, and chronic back problems. They have become as popular as the Crocs were in the mid 2000’s. Now, when you walk in any city, you will see people wearing these thick soled, reverse heel shoe. But, do they work?

These thick soled shoes, or MBT’s have a significant amount of cushion and it is to represent the feeling of walking in the sand. By the same token, this will stimulate and strengthen negated or weak muscles by stabilizing them because of the uneven walking surface. This is to simulate the walking conditions of the Masai sand in Africa. These claims are all according to a website that I stumbled across during my search on this topic- www.wanderingeducators.com. Recently, many other shoe brands have tried to reproduce a shoe which resembles the MBT shoe however, it is uncertain if the material and technology is the same as the original.

According to a website, www.wanderingeducators.com, many customers as well as the website administrator have made claims that they had many of their lower back and extremities conditions relieved with these MBT shoes. They make it very clear that you should not run in these shoes.

Just last week, the Texas Podiatric Medical Association president made a statement of a “buyer beware” because there was not any valid, independent, long term medical studies of the MBT shoes relieving any pain or discomfort in the lower extremities and back.

As a podiatric physician, I advised my patients that if the shoe is helping their condition, you should be able to wear it. My first encounter with these shoes was a patient who worked in a food processing facility and the plant had concrete floors. This patient had pain in the Achilles and he had shin splints. Many patients in our office wear these shoes and it has helped conditions such as shin splints, heel pain and Achilles tendonitis to name a few. I have found that some patients cannot tolerate an orthotic which is a custom device that helps support the foot and helps realign joints in the foot. MBT shoes may not be the best looking shoe however, they look very comfortable and the patients and public are very happy.

Please check out http://us.mbt.com/Home/Benefits/Studies.aspx for more information on the shoe.

By Dr. Jasen Langley