Abstract
The main purpose of the research was to develop a low-cost pressure sensor system which can be used to capture human sole (plantar) pressure during the loaded phase of walking accurately. The known factors for causing the development of foot (such as plantar) pain, foot strain and foot ulcer were unusual high peak plantar pressure, high pressure gradient and high foot tissue shear value during the support phase of walking where body weight is loaded onto the foot. Precise pressure data is crucial in the monitoring and treatment of these illnesses. In this investigation, off-the-shelf pressure thin-sheet sensor pads manufactured by ShuntMode MatrixArray®) were assembled, calibrated and tested for the acquisition of pressure data. Test results show that the low-cost system is suitable for high-quality pressure data acquisition. Therefore, low-cost thin-sheet pressure pads can be used to assemble large precise pressure sensing systems for many applications such as in health and industry.
Highlights
It is essential to determine and analyze human sole pressure during the loaded phase of walking on hard substrate as this can provide valuable information on the characteristic of the pressure and forces that act on specific parts of the foot
Barefoot load distribution characteristic differ from person to person due to a range of factors such as the variations in the walking speed[5,6,7], body weight[5,8,9], individual age[5,8], foot geometry[10] and stride length[5,8]
Previous literature has shown that an increase in the speed of foot movement leads to an increase in peak PP in the foot regions such as heel, medial and central metatarsals and hallux[1,4,5,17]
Summary
It is essential to determine and analyze human sole (plantar) pressure (pp) during the loaded phase of walking (gait) on hard substrate as this can provide valuable information on the characteristic of the pressure and forces that act on specific parts of the foot. These data can provide the insight into possible risk factors for chronic foot pain, foot ulcer and foot injury[1,2]. Perttunen[1] reviewed and summarized the values and the locations of the peak pp during walking (Figure 2) These data show clearly that during foot movement, the peak PP is transformed rapidly from the heel to the forefoot. Eight anatomical regions of the foot were defined to be used for plantar pressure distribution analysis, namely: M01at the heel, M02 at the medial midfoot, M03 at the lateral midfoot, M04 at medial forefoot, M05 at the central forefoot, M06 at the lateral forefoot, M07 at the hallux, and M08 at the toes[13]
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