The purpose of our study was to determine if altering the insoles within footwear or walking barefoot, as an attempt to increase or decrease cutaneous stimuli, would improve dynamic balance during a hill-walking task. We hypothesize that compared with foam insoles or iced bare feet, textured insoles or bare feet will result in greater speeds, longer step lengths, narrower step width, shorter stance time, and less tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SOL), and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) activity during key gait cycle phases. Ten, healthy college students, 5 men and 5 women, completed the protocol that consisted of level walking and downhill transition walking in five different footwear insole or barefoot conditions. During level walking, conditions with the hypothesized greater cutaneous stimuli resulted in greater step length, which relates to a more stable gait. In detail, the texture insole condition average step length was 3% longer than the regular insole condition, which was 5% longer than the ice condition (p < .01). The same signals of increased stability were evident during the more challenging downhill transition stride. Step length during the barefoot condition was 8% longer than the ice condition (p < .05) and step width during the regular footwear condition was 5% narrower than the foam condition (p = .05). To add, during the preswing phase of level walking, TA activity of the textured insole condition was 30% less than the foam insole. Although our data show that footwear conditions alter gait patterns and lower leg muscle activity during walking, there is not enough evidence to support the hypothesis that textured insoles will improve dynamic balance as compared with other footwear types.
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Altering Footwear Type Influences Gait During Level Walking and Downhill Transitions
Keith A. Stern and Jinger S. Gottschall
Effect of Forefoot and Midfoot Bending Stiffness on Agility Performance and Foot Biomechanics in Soccer
Daniel J. Brinkmann, Harald Koerger, Albert Gollhofer, and Dominic Gehring
ground. 4 These braking and propulsive impulses are required to decelerate and reaccelerate the body toward the new direction and are transmitted via the footwear to the ground. Thus, it is imperative for the player that his unique piece of equipment, that is, his soccer boots, supports him in executing
The Influence of Motion Control, Neutral, and Cushioned Running Shoes on Lower Limb Kinematics
Ben Langley, Mary Cramp, and Stewart C. Morrison
rearfoot eversion compared with neutral shoes. However, as is common within footwear biomechanics, these studies 11 , 12 placed markers on the shoe. Discrepancies between the motion of the foot and the shoe have been reported, 13 – 15 and as such, the findings of studies using shoe-based markers should
Running Shoes of the Postmodern Footwear Era: A Narrative Overview of Advanced Footwear Technology
Geoffrey T. Burns and Dustin P. Joubert
modeled 5 and is continually developing as performance data sets grow. 6 , 7 However, the precise mechanism of benefit and individual characteristics that mediate response are still unclear. This narrative review examines the current state of knowledge regarding advancements in footwear technology
Effects of Wearing Slippers While Obstacle Crossing in Healthy Young Adults: Strategy for Toe Clearance Enhancement and Prevention of Slipper Loss
Kento Tanaka, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Keita Honda, and Shin-ichi Izumi
risk of tripping is increased by wearing footwear without a form of fixation, such as laces ( Sherrington & Menz, 2003 ). It was also found that toe clearance in healthy older women is lower when walking in slippers compared with walking in shoes ( Lo et al., 2017 ). However, 20%–40% of older adults
Effects of Metatarsal Work Boots on Gait During Level and Inclined Walking
Lydia M. Kocher, Jonisha P. Pollard, Ashley E. Whitson, and Mahiyar F. Nasarwanji
Footwear is the primary interface between the worker and the work environment and plays a critical role in worker safety. 1 Safety toe footwear is often used to protect workers from the hazards typically encountered in work environments, such as mining, and is thereby required personal protective
Effect of Foot Orthoses on Running Economy and Foot Longitudinal Arch Motion in Runners With Flat-Arched Feet
Daniel Crago, John B. Arnold, and Christopher Bishop
preserve RE has not been investigated. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to determine the instantaneous effects of 2 different designs of foot orthoses: (1) “flexible-arched” orthoses with reduced arch thickness and (2) standard thickness orthoses, on RE compared with footwear only in
Habituation Does Not Change Running Economy in Advanced Footwear Technology
Lars C. Schwalm, Dominik Fohrmann, Marcelle Schaffarczyk, Thomas Gronwald, Steffen Willwacher, and Karsten Hollander
performance more than marginally could be the Advanced Footwear Technology (AFT) that reduces the aerobic energy expenditure of athletes and improves running economy (RE). 1 – 3 RE is a key determinant of endurance performance, as improved economy indicates a reduced energy cost to run at a certain speed, or
Footwear Type and Testing Environment Do Not Affect Baseline Modified Balance Error Scoring System Performance Among Middle School Athletes
Nicholas K. Erdman, Patricia M. Kelshaw, Samantha L. Hacherl, and Shane V. Caswell
athletes. Different types of footwear (eg, cleats, athletic shoes, minimalist shoes, barefoot) have also been demonstrated to affect balance. 16 , 19 – 22 For example, wearing athletic shoes has consistently resulted in better performance on the full version of the BESS, as demonstrated by committing
Immediate Effects of Manipulating Footwear or Cadence on the Lower Limb Biomechanics of Female Masters Runners
Jean-Francois Esculier, Jesse M. Charlton, Natasha M. Krowchuk, Julia De Pieri, and Michael A. Hunt
previous studies have shown that footwear and cadence modifications can effectively reduce surrogates of knee joint loading in younger runners. Running footwear ranges from minimalist to maximalist, 12 and is known to affect forces applied at different body parts. 13 Specifically, footwear characterized
