The purpose of this study was to find the difference in foot pressure patterns when wearing smart walking shoes. Foot pressure measurement is an established tool for the evaluation of foot function [1]. These measurements assess the effect of structural changes, which may occur as a complication of pathologies such as diabetes, and therefore have been suggested as one of the key tools in ulcer risk estimation [2].
The subjects who took part in the test consist of 5 elderly people and 5 young people. The physical features of the elderly people that were recruited for the study are shown below: 5 healthy male subjects (elderly people) with an average age of 62.0 yrs (S.D 1.0 yrs), weight of 69.4 kg (S.D 10.0 kg), height of 168.8 cm (S.D 5.3 cm) and a foot size of 270.0 mm (S.D 0.0 mm). 5 healthy male subjects (young people) with an average age of 27.2 yrs (S.D 4.1 yrs), weight of 75.2 kg (S.D 4.6 kg), height of 175.4 cm (S.D 4.0 cm) and a foot size of 270.0 mm (S.D 0.0 mm). Ten males (5 elderly people, 5 young people) walked on a treadmill wearing three different shoes. Foot pressure data (Contact areas, Maximum forece, Peak pressure, Maximum mean pressure) was collected using a Pedar-X mobile system (Novel Gmbh., Germany) operating at the 1,000 Hz.
Figure 1
Type A: development shoes, Type B: control shoes, Type C: smart walking shoes
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Table 1
Result of Foot Pressure
Subjects
Mask
Contact area (cm2)
Maximum force (N)
A
B
C
A
B
C
Young
Total
142.877±6.584
131.852±10.934
142.342±5.754
711.105±59.923
740.921±95.996
701.841±60.198
M1
68.663±1.716
63.023±5.373
68.629±0.584
621.023±89.605
606.018±168.64
601.982±86.053
M2
33.443±5.540
29.811±4.185
33.331±5.175
133.911±8.162
113.943±21.044
140.778±14.482
M3
40.770±0.000
39.019±2.200
40.383±0.753
468.385±42.442
500.382±46.850
471.992±27.290
Elderly
Total
139.403±2.996
128.966±5.757
138.099±4.256
592.178±95.362
605.047±81.495
596.161±100.23
M1
68.119±3.213
64.589±5.796
68.221±3.705
526.524±75.498
545.776±74.082
546.801±90.669
M2
30.514±2.751
24.877±5.708
29.140±4.599
110.238±25.983
78.007±31.900
96.843±29.870
M3
40.770±0.000
39.503±1.290
40.736±0.060
386.392±94.017
428.618±84.020
397.017±94.609
Subjects
Mask
Peak pressure (kPa)
Maximum mean pressure (kPa)
A
B
C
A
B
C
Young
Total
270.869±70.830
264.823±50.235
247.067±50.477
86.504±3.965
99.139±8.358
88.268±7.415
M1
258.458±83.422
243.390±75.894
235.239±59.953
94.519±9.360
101.522±19.698
93.791±10.480
M2
84.522±14.058
87.059±19.501
88.965±22.004
46.799±7.466
48.141±11.532
47.585±8.937
M3
184.082±25.588
213.283±16.517
190.809±25.685
115.573±11.070
130.126±11.114
119.693±10.816
Elderly
Total
189.973±27.832
213.509±21.026
213.564±45.475
76.358±3.203
85.410±3.122
77.770±7.078
M1
188.168±27.811
212.000±20.270
213.564±45.475
81.126±5.774
87.280±3.075
82.372±8.326
M2
66.064±6.977
67.977±18.067
57.432±9.937
39.860±6.977
38.683±7.441
36.246±6.136
M3
134.086±33.163
165.232±33.123
140.901±30.023
94.773±23.062
110.738±22.902
97.650±23.442
The results are as follows:
1. Young people
In comparison with the Type B (control shoes):
1) Type A (development shoes)
a)The contact area of foot (Total) by increased 8.36%, forefoot (M1) by increased 8.95%, midfoot (M2) by increased 12.18% and rearfoot (M3) by increased 4.48%. b)The maximum force of foot (Total) by decreased 4.02%, rearfoot (M3) by decreased 6.39%, while the maximum force of forefoot (M1) by increased 2.48% and midfoot (M2) by increased 17.52%. c)The peak pressure of foot (Total) by increased 2.28%, forefoot (M1) by increased 6.19%, while the peak pressure of midfoot (M2) by decreased 2.91% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 13.69%. d)The maximum mean pressure of foot (Total) by decreased 12.74%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 6.90%, midfoot (M2) by decreased 2.79% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 11.18%.
2) Type C (smart walking shoes)
a)The contact area of foot (Total) by increased 7.96%, forefoot (M1) by increased 8.90%, midfoot (M2) by increased 11.81% and rearfoot (M3) by increased 3.50%. b)The maximum force of foot (Total) by decreased 5.27%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 0.67% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 5.67%, while the maximum force of midfoot (M2) by increased 23.55%. c)The peak pressure of foot (Total) by decreased 6.70%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 3.35% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 10.54%, while the peak pressure of midfoot (M2) by increased 2.19%. d)The maximum mean pressure of foot (Total) by decreased 10.97%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 7.62%, midfoot (M2) by decreased 1.15% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 8.02%.
2. Elderly people
In comparison with the Type B (control shoes):
1) Type A (development shoes)
a)The contact area of foot (Total) by increased 8.09%, forefoot (M1) by increased 5.47%, midfoot (M2) by increased 22.66% and rearfoot (M3) by increased 3.21%. b)The maximum force of foot (Total) by decreased 2.13%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 3.53% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 9.85%, while the maximum force of midfoot (M2) by increased 41.32%. c)The peak pressure of foot (Total) by decreased 11.02%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 11.24%, midfoot (M2) by decreased 2.81% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 18.85%. d)The maximum mean pressure force of foot (Total) by decreased 10.60%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 7.05% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 14.42%, while the maximum force of midfoot (M2) by increased 3.04%.
2) Type C (smart walking shoes)
a)The contact area of foot (Total) by increased 7.08%, forefoot (M1) by increased 5.62%, midfoot (M2) by increased 17.14% and rearfoot (M3) by increased 3.12%. b)The maximum force of foot (Total) by decreased 1.47%, rearfoot (M3) by decreased 7.37%, while the maximum force of forefoot (M1) by increased 0.19% and midfoot (M2) by increased 24.15%. c)The peak pressure of foot (Total) by increased 0.03%, forefoot (M1) by increased 0.74%, while the peak pressure of midfoot (M2) by decreased 15.51% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 14.73%. d)The maximum mean pressure of foot (Total) by decreased 8.95%, forefoot (M1) by decreased 5.62%, midfoot (M2) by decreased 6.30% and rearfoot (M3) by decreased 11.82%.
As a result of analysis, it has been found that Type A and Type C have lower foot pressure (Total, M3) than Type B. Also, Type A and Type C show superior performance compared to Type B in all mask at contact area. Type A and Type C shoes will be used to reduce foot pressure and increase comfort and fitting.
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
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