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BIOMECHANICAL EFFECTS OF FOAM INSERTS ON FOREFOOT LOAD DURING THE HIGH-HEELED GAIT: A PILOT STUDY

J. S. LI

Human Movement Research Center, Zhejiang College of Sports, Zhejiang 311231, China

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Y. D. GU

Human Movement Research Center, Zhejiang College of Sports, Zhejiang 311231, China

School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

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X. J. REN

School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

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M. J. LAKE

School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 2ET, UK

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, and

Y. J. ZENG

Biomedical Engineering Center, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Corresponding author.

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519410003630Cited by:6 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

This pilot study analyzed the loading on the medial forefoot (MF) region during walking in high-heel shoes. Eight healthy female volunteers have participated in this study with the heel height varied from 0 cm (flat), 4.5 cm (low), and 8.5 cm (high). The results showed that the load on MF increased with the heel height and the magnitude of the load could be effectively reduced by using foam inserts. Comparative studies of foams with different hardness and thicknesses showed that thicker soft foams had a significant advantage over thiner hard foams (P < 0.05) in reducing the peak pressures. An optimum condition with a thick soft insert could reduce MF pressure by 26%, impact force by 27%, and force time integral by 20% when compared to the condition without insert.

Keywords:

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