MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) shoes are sometimes referred to by advertisements and news stories as the shoes that claim to make you healthier. Just to name some of the claims of MBT Shoes, it was said that MBT shoes can activate neglected muscles. MBT shoes can tone and shape the body and help heal joint, ligament, muscle, and tendon injuries. Wearing these shoes can also improve posture and gait and help relieve back, leg, hip, and foot tiredness, as well as reduce the stress on the hip and knee joints. MBT shoes claim that they can activate the whole body.

History of MBT shoes

MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology. These shoes were designed by Karl Muller, a Swiss engineer. His idea for creating the MBT Shoes began when he was in Korea. He discovered that when he walks on the paddy fields, his back pain was reduced.

When he came back to Switzerland, he designed a type of footwear that will have a foot pad that is as soft as the paddy fields of Korea or the Savannah in East Africa. It was in 1996 that he was able to finalize the design of the first MBT Shoes that were launched in the market.

His discovery spread to more than 20 countries leading to at least one million pairs of MBT Shoes being sold every year. A pair of MBT Shoes would cost an average of $250.

How the MBT shoes work

Since MBT Shoes made huge claims, the most common question about MBT shoes is how does this technology work.

Because the sole of the MBT shoes have several layers, each layer performs a special function to grant the benefits claimed by the MBT shoes. The glass fiber and TPU shank provides the firmness and the rolling movement of the feet, as well as distributes the pressure while walking. The PU midsole also helps in giving the rolling movement and in activating the stabilizing muscles even while just standing. The Masai sensor is what gives that special feeling as if the person is walking on a beach while wearing the MBT Shoes.

Through the several layers of the MBT soles, the shoes were able to distribute the pressure while walking, thus, lessening the pressure on the soles of the feet and on the leg and back muscles. With the special technology used in MBT shoes, it can activate the compensatory muscles through the natural instability feature of the MBT Shoes.