Roller shoes have been making the news lately, especially when it comes to the safety of the children wearing them. Amidst the typical debate over roller shoes being safe, there is also the question of whether or not these mobile shoes actually promote exercise like rollerskates do. Rollerskating has been a great form of physical exercise almost as long as it has been around. But the latest niche in the skating realm known as "heeling" is creating quite a fuss over whether or not it is a good form of exercise, or just downright lazy.

Roller shoes rely on wheels that are housed within the heel of a normal shoe. By shifting their weight to the heel of the shoe, heelers are able to smoothly transition from a walk or run into coasting. This type of skating is referred to as heeling, and at first glance it appears as if the heeler is simply gliding along without a care in the world and very little physical effort involved. If you've seen this, you might have assumed that these roller shoes are skates for the lazy, but upon a closer inspection, you will come to realize that there is a lot more to these skate shoes than just a casual roll down the sidewalk.

When I bought my first pair, I envisioned myself gliding along like I had seen the kids in my local mall do a million times. The last experience I had with skating at all was nearly twenty years ago. A boy in that age range during the late 80s, I owned a second rate skateboard and a longing for half-pipes and "freestyling." Even then, I never was that good at it, but it certainly preoccupied a lot of my free time and did provide me with some sort of exercise. As I slipped on my first pair of roller shoes, I assumed that it was something that would come back to me, just like riding a bike (or my old skateboard) as the saying goes. This was not true. The first step I took landed me flat on the pavement and certainly wasn't the graceful glide I had intended. With a deep breath and a willingness to learn, I stood up again and gave it another shot. After making a few steps, I found that controlling my back foot wasn't so hard, but my front foot found it amusing to roll me into an awkward splits time and time again. The more I practiced, the more I began to realize that heeling involved learning how to walk first. With these roller shoes on, a person has to retrain the body to actually walk on wheels. This is not any easy task.

After the first few hours on these skate shoes, I made several observations. For starters, I wasn't going to be good at this any time soon. Secondly, my heels hurt from the amount of pressure that was constantly being placed there to roll. I also noticed that my inner thighs were starting to burn and within a few days, it was apparent that I had worked these muscles more than I had in quite sometime. The soreness was a result of keeping my balance and forcing my feet to stay one in front of the other without doing the splits again. As the week passed, I began to notice that my calf and leg muscles were sore as well. Roller shoes are typically heavier than normal sneakers, adding in the extra weight of the wheel. It was like wearing ankle weights and was something my muscles needed to gain strength. As the weeks turned to months and my heeling improved, my body adjusted as well. Walking around in normal shoes feels strange without the added weight and constant mental and physical focus on my balance.

Most people believe that skating in roller shoes is robbing kids from good exercise, but appearances can be deceiving. These skate shoes are promoting good exercise and balance. They help to build leg muscles and enforce a great cardio workout. Most suprisingly, roller shoes are prompting today's youth to condone a good posture by the way they must stand to maintain balance! All in all, if this fad is pushing kids out of the comforts of A/C and video games and into warm, healthy sunshine and exercise, then heeling is a sport we should all embrace.

Mike L Lane is currently coasting his way around the world-wide web, and is Webmaster of http://www.TheHeelyStore.Com among other ventures.

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