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Young females with mild hallux valgus (HV) have been identified as having an increased risk of first ray deformation. Little is known, however, about the biomechanical changes that might contribute to this increased risk. The purpose of this study was to compare kinetics changes during walking for mild HV subjects with high-heel-height shoes. Twelve female subjects (six with mild HV and six controls) participated in this study with heel height varying from 0 cm (barefoot) to 4.5 cm. Compared to healthy controls, patients had significantly higher peak pressure on the big toe area during barefoot walking. When the heel height increased, loading was transferred to medial side of the forefoot, and the big toe area suffered more impact compared to barefoot in mild HV. This study also demonstrated that the center of pressure (COP) inclines to medial side alteration after high-heeled shoes wearing. These findings indicate that mild HV people should be discouraged from wearing high-heeled shoes.

The authors have proposed a novel method for high-speed gait generation of limit-cycle walkers based on the forward-tilting impact posture. Based on this approach, the robot can overcome the potential barrier at mid-stance easily and can generate a high-speed level gait only by extending the stance leg during stance phases. The problem was that there is not enough time-margin for stance-leg actuation due to the excessive high-speed motion. In this paper, we then attach forefeet to the legs of a telescopic-legged rimless wheel for the purposes of braking and tilting the impact posture more. The length of forefeet is finite and the stance leg rotates around the tiptoe just prior to heel strike. The simulation results show that the geometric effect of forefeet on the impact posture strongly improves the gait efficiency in terms of walking speed and specific resistance.