CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- LeAnn Pinney bought a pair of the Curves toning sneaker after noticing that a patient was sleeker looking.

The woman hadn't shed any pounds. Instead, she was wearing -- all day long -- the sneakers promoted as designed to help tone muscles by making them work harder.

So Pinney, a 56-year-old Charleston dental hygienist, bought a pair of the Curves shoes. "They ought to give me a commission because I've told everyone about them," she laughed.

The shoes take some getting used to, Pinney said, but she can tell they've helped to firm her legs and glutes.

"They're not a miracle shoe," she cautioned. "You can't walk once a week and expect to see results."

She walks 2 to 3 miles twice or three times a week along Kanawha Boulevard or, if raining, inside Charleston Town Center Mall.

In an Avon catalog, the Curves shoes have this description: "Unique rounded sole encourages a natural rocking motion with every step to challenge muscles and posture as you walk ... natural shock absorbers encourage muscles to work harder while protecting your back, knee and hip joints."

Physical fitness professional Cindy Boggs sees pros and cons to the shoe.

She's skeptical about any shoe that changes a person's natural walking gait of the heel first, then to the ball of the sole and on to the toes.

Her main concern is that there's been no peer review by podiatrists and others who specialize in feet and legs. She wonders about long-term effects on knees, hips and back.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- LeAnn Pinney bought a pair of the Curves toning sneaker after noticing that a patient was sleeker looking.

The woman hadn't shed any pounds. Instead, she was wearing -- all day long -- the sneakers promoted as designed to help tone muscles by making them work harder.

So Pinney, a 56-year-old Charleston dental hygienist, bought a pair of the Curves shoes. "They ought to give me a commission because I've told everyone about them," she laughed.

The shoes take some getting used to, Pinney said, but she can tell they've helped to firm her legs and glutes.

"They're not a miracle shoe," she cautioned. "You can't walk once a week and expect to see results."

She walks 2 to 3 miles twice or three times a week along Kanawha Boulevard or, if raining, inside Charleston Town Center Mall.

In an Avon catalog, the Curves shoes have this description: "Unique rounded sole encourages a natural rocking motion with every step to challenge muscles and posture as you walk ... natural shock absorbers encourage muscles to work harder while protecting your back, knee and hip joints."

Physical fitness professional Cindy Boggs sees pros and cons to the shoe.

She's skeptical about any shoe that changes a person's natural walking gait of the heel first, then to the ball of the sole and on to the toes.

Her main concern is that there's been no peer review by podiatrists and others who specialize in feet and legs. She wonders about long-term effects on knees, hips and back.

Boggs is fitness coordinator for the YMCA, where she teaches an exercise class for seniors, and writes a fitness column for the Sunday Gazette-Mail.

"Do you remember earth shoes? The heel was lower than the toes so they stretched the calf muscles. I had a pair and they felt great at first, and then people started snapping their Achilles' tendon."

The Curves Web site said the toning sneaker was no longer for sale. Other shoe manufacturers, however, have similar shoes. Reebok calls its Easy Tone, which sells between $99 and $109. MBT shoes are twice that amount.

"Take the gym with you," urges Reebok's Web site. The shoes "create natural instability" that requires continual adaptation.

MBT's Web page says the instability "activates neglected muscles," improving posture, gait, helping with hip, back problems and reducing stress on knees.

The marketing, Boggs said, is playing off stability balls found in many gyms, where exercisers must use their core muscles to maintain their balance on the balls.

The instability created by the shoes, Boggs said, "must be replicating what an older person feels like."

She also wonders why are these shoes marketed toward women and not men.

Still, she points out that women have long abused their feet by wearing high heels. Even though much has been written about the harm caused by high-heel shoes, women have ignored the warnings and continue to buy them.

And Boggs conceded that if the shoes motivate someone to walk, to get moving, they can't be all bad.

Reach Rosalie Earle at ea...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5115.