My Mini has a tendency on one of her hind legs to get sore hocks. She dislocated the joint about 3 years ago and they had to break the joint and allow a new one to form so she is always going to be slightly out of kilter on that leg. The carpet rubbed away and made it very sore, not quite to the point of breaking skin and weeping because I managed to get the duvets down and this improved it greatly. Mischa also started to get them and then so did Nutmeg when I was attempting to bond the foursome in my room. Only Smudge didn't and he has a LOT of fur on his feet (he has a LOT of fur everywhere :lol
Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yes, the four of them were on the lino for a while before I had to split to two pairs and all three affected started improving. Mini still has a bit of a pink patch on that affected leg but it's better and also stable. I check it every few weeks and look at it when she flops when I can and it's a lot lot better than it used to be.
I think there are two aspects. You have the need for something soft for them to sleep on when they are in loaf position so that the nails sink in and also the need for what they are on not to rub and wear away those guard hairs. I've also noticed since having the lino (textured stuff) that their nails no longer need cutting quite so regularly. It must be helping to keep them worn a bit more. And this is another thing that doesn't help, if the nails are long.
I mean for a rex I expect this would never be enough, but for my bunnies with what I guess one would call medium length fur on their feet it works well.