Cosmo Kramer approves.

Because it has a coil in the heal, the rest of the shoe has to look like crap? Dumb engineers, think all shoes look the same. Hows about a pimp heel in this style? is that too much to ask for?

Not only is it more than a shoe fetishist could love, i believe it has cured me of mine.

I had a co-worker that wore these things. 'Moon-shoe' jokes aplenty.

Wonder if they actually do anything or they're just a marketing gimmick.

@Evdor: I vote gimmick.

if you covered them in glitter they might look alright.-blurey

if you put glitter on them they might look alright.-blurey

Those are hideous. Give me future-kicks like these and I'll be happy, though.

Jimmy couldn't jump at all before he got these. Jimmy was like you.

Doesn't "orthotic" mean "correct ear", or something like that?
Do we have any ENT medics?

@blurey: Glitter basically makes everything better.

They look like orthopedic shoes. As in, the shoe itself is crippled, so it needs a prosthetic heel to function like a normal shoe.

J. Rubio (from Spain) makes wood bottomed shoes with coils in them that look great and are so comfortable to wear! I've been collecting and wearing them for years and always get comments on them - I've even had people take pictures when I wear them abroad. [www.jrubio.us]

EW!

That is all.

My housemate has these things called Power Skips ([www.powerskip.de]) and can use them. Scary kangaroo man!

Oh - and they are also needlessly ugly.

Are those speed holes?

At last! A place where nineteenth-century London supervillian Spring-Heeled Jack can go to re-supply! Three cheers for her imperial majesty queen victoria!

One of my friends wore these. He had gotten a pair for his mom because walking gave her extreme back pain. The shoes allowed her to walk again! So he got himself a pair as well. They were very comfortable, but they unfortunately squeaked on cold winter days.

The impact of walking can be diminished with these shoes. Anything that can take the force of your weight as it intersects the pavment and transfer the load into the spring instead of your spine, will help. The spring is very good at this because it pushes back against the Earth and can turn kinetic energy into heat. Better than crushing your back, or hips or knees.
AND if they weren't so gosh darn ugly I'd probably buy a pair.

I don't think the solution lies in springy shoes but in people losing weight and getting in better shape.

@Annalee Newitz: It was a secret known to the Mayans: [news.nationalgeographic.com]

@Metropolis: Yep...there are no other causes for joint or back pain.

They have a lot of styles and they aren't all equally ugly. I'd actually like to try some of them out.

We've been seeing these creepy shoes for years here in Albuquerque. I've come to the decision that people who wear them should not be trusted.

My mother has a couple pair of these. Her MD recommended 'em, and they've made a huge difference in her ability to stay active. She's 67 and in reasonable shape, but her knees were basically worn out via a 40 year career as a physical therapist. Ugly? Maybe. But I'll take "ugly" over "unable to walk very far."

@The Great God Chet:
I mean no offence to your mother (or you, or anybody else), but I find the phrase: "knees were basically worn out via a 40 year career as a physical therapist" to be hilariously ironic.
-Kle.

I know that I'm a total fashion contrarian, but I love these! Just a dusting of glitter or leopardskin and I'm ordering myself a pair. They look like funky Cyber Louis VIth heel and damn comfortable too. It's the trainer styling that's the fugly bit.

With all due respect to Ms. Newitz and her horrifically narrow-minded view I think that she should have tried on a pair before passing judgment.

I would think that sci-fi fans would be a bit more open-minded to the benefits of modern technology. As a purveyor of Z-Coil shoes I have been privileged to witness people who could barely get around, or get through a day without pain, walk out of my store pain free. Some of these have been folks that have had knee or hip pain for DECADES, and have finally found relief through Z-Coils.

So, Annalee, before passing judgment, how about walking a mile in my shoes?

The original design of this planet did not include these spring shoes but it also did not include flat and hard cement surfaces, knee and hip replacements and advertising induced fashion following. Follow the logic on this one, young or old, and safety just might rule in spite of what changes we have made to this planet. Ergonomic is the new rage and for a very good reason, our technology has taken us to grand and wondrous places and caused many new and painful problems. I wear these funky shoes and at 64 and 10 years of wearing in places like Nepal, my knees work just fine.

A friend directed me to this blog entry and along the way came across various other websites dismissing the holy-grail that is Z-coil. I realize this response is a few months late, but I felt compelled to respond.

I must say Annalee, your open-minded approach to something out of the ordinary will win you brownie points when ET knocks on your door.

I was assimilated, as many other Z-coil wearers, by a nurse friend who pretty much tricked me into stepping foot in the door. I, like you Annalee, was a non-believer. I grew up with foot pain, which started in grade school. As I joined the working class my foot pain increased in both severity and longevity. In high school, ran 3 miles every other day, taught aerobics at the local YMCA on my off days from running, and waited tables during my spare time. And my feet hurt. I was the beaming example of the overweight population Metroplis found so easy to judge.

As time progressed I just assumed everyone's feet hurt as badly as mine. It became a daily annoyance that was easily forgotten until getting out of bed the next morning. The first step I made took great courage. In a matter of seconds I was on my hands and knees, silently cringing and cursing at the pain of having my tendons snapped straight once more. Every step for the rest of the day was a win/lose situation. My tendons would warm up and stretch out, the inflamation would loosen up, the pain would slowly go away, but throughout the day tiny microscopic tendon fibers were constantly being re-sliced. More inflamation was being created. And every night my tendonds would curl back in upon themselves only to be snapped straight the next morning.

And the cycle went on, year after year.

I learned to loathe even the most basic daily life functions. Cooking was painful, cleaning house impossible, grociery shopping was done as infrequently as I could get away with. Ironically the pain worsened after graduating college and landing a job sitting all day. I no longer taught aerobics or ran so naturally I put on some weight, which did heighten the pain I was already experiencing. But by this point in my life, having dealt with the pain for so long, I was able to ignore it, much like people who can't smell certain odors after a certain amount of time.

At the prompting of my nurse friend I visited a Podiatrist. I was diagnosed with chronic, severe plantar faciitis. He prescribed me a large dose of naproxen and gave me 4 cortizone shots in my heels. I was also given stabilizing boots to wear at night so that my tendons wouldn't shrink and the cycle would finally be broken.

That did lessen the pain, but my feet still ached. I no longer fell to my knees upon leaving bed in the morning. However, the high-dose naproxen created gastrointestinal issues. The next round of cortizone shots were extremely painful, and for the next 24 hours I felt nauseous with every step I took. So this was hardly a long-term viable option.

My nurse friend picked me up one Saturday morning to go shopping. "You need shoes" she said to me. "I have shoes" I replied. "Not these kind" she stated as we pulled into a parking stall in front of the Z-coil store. I saw the shoes in the display window and started laughing. "Those look rediculous!". "Just try them on." "Yes ma'am" was my condescending reply.

I tried on the tennis shoes and for a moment I felt the skies part, the sun shone down upon me and the angels sang praises. I looked at my friend in amazement. I took my first step in them and felt...nothing. I felt nothing! For the first time in 20 plus years I felt nothing after taking a step. I was 29 years old. I felt my age again.

I could walk and I have never looked back. I have two pair of Z-coil shoes and am preparing to buy another. I've had them for over 3 years and not only have they literally saved my life, they are still as good as the day I bought them. I wear them approximately 90% of the time I wear shoes. After 3 years of sleeping in stabalizing boots and wearing Zcoils I can finally wear other shoes occassionally without discomfort. I wear traditional dress shoes when I wear dresses so long as I don't walk much. And I don't have to wear the boots every night.

I noticed along the way my posture improved. My hips and knees no longer ache, and I now realize just how much pain I endured. If wearing Z-coil shoes makes me untrustworthy, so be it. I don't think I'll lose sleep over the likes of m0unds.

Thank you for your kind words Whyaduck, Oveydya, and ttibbar, and the others I have forgotten. I could care less how fashionable these shoes are. Come see me when you are 60 plus and we'll talk.