Could the answer to beautifully lithe legs lie in a pair of engineer-designed shoes inspired by an African tribe? follows Liz Hurley and Jemima Khan on the path to slender gracefulness.
Who doesn't desire shapelier, smoother legs? For some it's an obsession, with every spare hour devoted to the treadmill, cross trainer and seaweed wraps at the beauty salon.
I'd certainly never go to those lengths. Length, actually, is one thing I'm blessed with - at 5ft 11in tall I have a 34-inch inside leg measurement.
According to marketing hype, the answer may be the new 'Masai Barefoot Technology' (MBT) trainers. They're claimed to be so good that they are a substitute gym and are a work out not only the legs but the whole body, too.
Famously slender celebs Jemima Khan and Liz Hurley are said to have a pair in their wardrobe. Well, if that's what it takes to dazzle Hugh Grant, I'm not holding back ...
More than mere aesthetic benefits, MBTs are claimed to alleviate all kinds of musculo- skeletal problems. Their designers believe that ordinary shoes actually cause muscles to lose their normal function leading to damage and pain, while MBTs balance the body, thereby encouraging the muscles to do what they're supposed to: support the skeleton.
As the name suggests, Masai Barefoot Technology originates with the semi-nomadic African tribe. It was discovered by Swiss engineer Karl Muller who, during a stay in Korea, found that his back pain was alleviated when he walked barefoot through paddy fields.
This led him to the revelation that people of the Masai, who walk barefoot, suffer virtually no back or joint pain and have exceptional athletic ability.
Determined to create footwear that would effectively recreate the benefits of barefoot walking for people who have to move on hard ground, Muller devoted years to thorough research.
Then, in the early 1990s, he came up with a sole composed of five layers which, instead of stability, promotes instability in order to force neglected muscle groups to make the balancing movements and adjustments which should come naturally.
Using the shoes regularly is said to improve posture and gait, tone the body, help with back, hip, leg and foot problems as well as joint, muscle, ligament and tendon injuries, and reduce stress on the knee and hip joints.
For one thing, they have what initially seems like a complicated lace-up system complete with its own set of instructions. And secondly, the shoes have startlingly thick soles which taper off towards the heel ... and if you lean back you could lose balance and hit the floor.
But once the shoes are on, the feeling is quite transforming. Immediately, I feel like I'm walking on air and the tapered heel causes a rocking horse effect.
Under guidance from Paula Lavery, a chartered physiotherapist based in Belfast, I'm soon walking tall and feeling my leg muscles working harder than normal.
Paula tells me that she fell in love with MBTs on her first road test. She had heard excited rumours about the shoes flying around professional circles three years ago, bought a pair, was hooked and underwent training to enable her to teach people to use them.
"I feel my muscles working inside the shoe, as opposed to an ordinary shoe being there purely for support. I can also feel spinal correction taking place - my posture is improved by at least 10 degrees when I put them on. Then, when I take them off and put on another pair of shoes, I feel very flat footed all of a sudden.
"The Masai walk so uprightly and Ethiopian and Cambodian runners, who train in bare feet, run with a very straight spine and a smaller stride which MBTs also force you to do."
"When people come for fitting I recommend they wear them for 10-30 minutes the first time to see how it goes, and then build it up from there," Paula explains.
"The more you wear them, the more benefit you will see. That's why there are smart business styles available, so you can wear them in the office, and there are sports, casual shoe and sandal choices."
Some of Paula's patients have found that persistent back pain has eased with use of the shoes although she doesn't suggest people wear them until she has first treated any injuries.
"I would like to see GPs recommending them for their patients - and perhaps if people wore MBTs they wouldn't need to visit the surgery as often."
Able to testify as to the injury- relieving effects is young Londonderry woman Chidi Lynn who suffered chronic pain after a horse riding accident in 2001 left her with damaged vertebrae and trapped nerves in her back.
She only discovered MBTs this year and although they were initially difficult to walk in, she persevered and within two weeks was seeing the benefits.
"I've been able to keep Molly, my German Shepherd, and can walk her without pain and hold her when she pulls. MBTs have given me hope and I no longer need medication because my MBTs act as a natural painkiller."
Paula says that a number of surgeons have found the shoes to be ideal for wearing in theatre because of the support they give to the whole body.
And they are good news, too, for people who detest the gym - for, she says, they give a whole body workout. That's music to my ears, I can tell you.
"When you go out walking in MBTs your whole body is working, from the feet to the neck and the potential for toning and shaping is excellent," she says.
As I set off for my first walk in my new shoes, Paula's comments ring true as, without any conscious effort on my part, my posture is better and I'm walking taller.
And, dare I say it, after several weeks of going for an hour-long walk a few times a week, I believe my legs - the lower part, at least - are slightly more toned than they used to be.
I'd love to be able to wear them all day, every day but, as they don't really go with skirts, I resign myself to putting them on in the evening.
But as the dread of going to the gym has been replaced by an eagerness to hit the roads for a walk in the country, I (along with the one million people who bought a pair in 2005) feel delighted with my new shoes.
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