Toning shoes are the wildly popular shoes that promise to give your legs and rear-end a workout. But could they be more of a hazard than a help?

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Rosie Jackson, 57, broke her ankle and injured her back last November after wearing the toning shoes for less than a month. She still has unpaid hospital bills and was out of work for three months – all because of a fall she says wouldn’t have taken if it weren’t for the shoes.

“I was walking and all of sudden my feet was going from up under me and I was going down and I couldn't do anything,” she said.

Last April, house call physician Ernest Brown also suffered a broken ankle while walking down the street in a pair of toning shoes.

“It almost felt like something was hitting me from behind and knocking me off my feet>” Brown said. “What I knew is I was falling down rapidly and it was excruciating pain shooting up my leg.”

Brown and Jackson are among a group of at least 40 people who plan to sue several toning shoe manufacturers. Attorney Andy Bederman says the shoes have led to a variety of serious injuries.

“The shoes, we think, are fundamentally unsafe and the manufacturer probably knew this and didn't disclose it and should've disclosed it,” Bederman says.

The rocker bottom design is not exclusive to a single brand of shoe.

Podiatrist Sheldon Lapps has treated injuries resulting from the use of the shoes.

“For the general population they are not terribly safe,” Lapps said. “I'm very concerned about the injuries and the instability that the shoes bring. I think they're dangerous.”