Footwear Fit Research Articles

Is retail footwear fit for purpose for the feet of adults who are obese?

The internal morphology and dimensions of shoes are determined by lasts on which they are manufactured, defined by foot shape, aesthetics and manufacturing requirements. Obese adults have larger foot dimensions with flatter morphology and report ill-fitting, uncomfortable footwear. Therefore, it is likely that lasts are not fit for the purpose for this subset of around 30% of adults. This research quantified the relationship between the healthy weight foot and retail shoe and compared this with the foot of obese adults and wide-fit shoes targeted at those who are obese. A three-dimensional foot scanner determined the morphology and dimensions of standard and wide-fit retail lasts and the feet of healthy weight and obese adults. Standard anatomical measurements and differences between multiple cross-sections of foot and lasts were compared with ANOVA. The relationship between a standard retail last and the foot of a healthy weight adult defined a level of acceptable difference in foot/last morphology/dimension, and was thus a benchmark to compare the difference between the obese foot and wide-fit last. The comparison of standard measures demonstrated less spacious dimensions in the wide-fit shoes, specifically heel circumference and ball height. The cross-sectional analysis identified that the wide-fit footwear has less spacious width in the rearfoot. In the midfoot and forefoot one of the wide-fit shoes exceeded the benchmark and provided significantly more space than the standard retail shoe. Overall, the results alluded to wide-fit footwear not currently being fit for purpose for obese adults; notably the footwear should be wider in the rearfoot. Meeting the footwear needs of the obese wearer may improve foot health and satisfaction, with potential benefits of increasing activity, consequently improving overall health.

Changes in Foot Shape after Long-Distance Running

Changes in foot shape during long-distance running may lead to alteration in shoe fit. However, little information is available on changes in foot shape following long-distance running. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in foot shape in experienced runners after a single long-distance run. Data from the right feet of 21 subjects were obtained using a foot scanner before and after running 35 km on an asphalt road. After the run, the dorsal height, navicular height, and arch height ratio were significantly decreased. Midfoot cross-sectional shape after the run was deformed laterally compared to before running. Lateral deformity of the lateral dorsum was seen in 76.2% of the feet. For the medial side, 47.6% of feet deformed medially and 38.1% of feet did not change. The findings of the present study suggest that foot shape is altered during a single long-distance run. These results suggest that footwear fit and comfort could be affected during long distance running because athletes tie their shoelaces based on their pre-running foot shape.

Footwear fit perception with or without attention

Purpose: The overarching aim of this study was to evaluate the role of attention in basketball footwear fit perception.Experimental protocol: Twenty-nine university basketball players rated footwear fit of correctly fitted basketball shoes and of shoes half a US size smaller and half a US size bigger following three fit perception protocols of increasing complexity (Step-In; Basic Course; Basketball Specific Course). The fit perception protocols were completed both with and without concurrent performance of an attentionally demanding secondary task. Footwear fit was rated by response to both a four-variable scale and a two-variable scale. The experiment protocol was repeated on a second day to test for inter-day reliability.Results: The player's sensitivity to differences in shoe size was similar following each fit perception protocol and substantial and almost perfect inter-day reliability was demonstrated (ICC > 0.6). The imposition of a secondary task had no detrimental effect on players' capacity to differentiate shoe size (P > 0.05). Reducing the number of fit judgements resulted in superior shoe size differentiation (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The findings imply that the availability of attention would be similar across fit perception protocols of different complexity. Moreover, asking players to consider fewer aspects of forefoot shoe fit may result in better and more reliable judgements of shoe fit.

Is retail footwear fit for purpose for the feet of adults who are obese?

"Is retail footwear fit for purpose for the feet of adults who are obese?." Footwear Science, 7(sup1), pp. S146–S147

The association of foot structure and footwear fit with disability in children and adolescents with Down syndrome.

BackgroundFoot deformity, flat feet, and the use of ill-fitting footwear are common in children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS). The aim of this study was to determine whether these observations are associated with foot-specific disability in this group.MethodsA cross-sectional study design. Foot structure (foot posture determined using the Arch Index, presence of hallux valgus and lesser toe deformities) and footwear fit (determined by length and width percentage differences between the participant’s foot and footwear) were assessed in 50 participants with DS (22 females, 28 males) aged five to 18 with a mean (SD) age of 10.6 (3.9) years. Foot-specific disability was determined using the parent-reported Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children (OxAFQ-C). Associations between foot structure and footwear fit with the four domains (Physical, School and play, Emotional and Footwear) of the OxAFQ-C were determined using multivariate regression modelling.ResultsThe mean (SD) Arch Index was 0.29 (0.08), and the prevalence of flat feet, hallux valgus and lesser toe deformities was 76%, 10% and 12% respectively. Few participants wore footwear that was too short (10%), but the use of footwear that was too narrow was common (58%). The presence of hallux valgus was significantly associated with increased disability for the OxAFQ-C School and play domain scores. The use of narrow-fitting footwear was significantly associated with increased levels of disability for the OxAFQ-C Physical, School and play, and Emotional domains. However, these variables only explained between 10% to 14% of the variance in the OxAFQ-C domain scores. There were no significant associations between foot structure and footwear fit with the OxAFQ-C Footwear domain scores.ConclusionsFlatter feet and lesser toe deformities are not associated with foot-specific disability in children and adolescents with DS. Hallux valgus is associated with foot-specific disability during school and play activities. Ill-fitting footwear (too narrow) is common and is associated with foot-specific disability. Further research is required to identify if the relationship between narrow-fitting footwear and foot-specific disability is causal, and to identify other factors associated with foot-specific disability in children and adolescents with DS.

Dynamic Footwear Fit Model Similar to NIOSH Lifting Equation

Improper footwear design causes injuries and illnesses, and hence it is important to understand not only the foot but also the footwear. In order to reduce injuries and illnesses, the foot and footwear have to match in such a way to avoid high pressure points and friction due to movements. As far as footwear fit is concerned, literature review has indicated that static footwear fit has mostly been studied, even though dynamic pressure, friction, and foot movement beyond the normal range of motion will cause different type of injuries and illnesses when compared to static fit. Therefore, this paper proposes a theoretical model for dynamic fit. The dynamic footwear fit model is developed similar to the NIOSH lifting equation. The dynamic fit is related to static fit and several multipliers related to footwear design, material properties, and time factor. More research is being carried out to set the parameter values of the theoretical model. The importance of this model is useful for quantification of dynamic footwear fit as it is more related to the actual situation. Better footwear fit, both static and dynamic, will generally improve foot health.

Foot deformation during walking: differences between static and dynamic 3D foot morphology in developing feet

The complex functions of feet require a specific composition, which is progressively achieved by developmental processes. This development should take place without being affected by footwear. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences between static and dynamic foot morphology in developing feet. Feet of 2554 participants (6–16 years) were recorded using a new scanner system (DynaScan4D). Each foot was recorded in static half and full weight-bearing and during walking. Several foot measures corresponding to those used in last construction were calculated. The differences were identified by one-way ANOVA and paired Student's t-test. Static and dynamic values of each foot measure must be considered to improve the fit of footwear. In particular, footwear must account for the increase of forefoot width and the decrease of midfoot girth. Furthermore, the toe box should have a more rounded shape. The findings are important for the construction of footwear for developing feet.

Influence of protocol complexity on fit perception of basketball footwear

Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy and reliability of basketball footwear fit perception, testing protocols of different complexity. Methods: Three fit perception protocols of different complexity were applied: a) Basketball Specific Course (BSC), b) Basic Course and c) Step-In. Three test shoe conditions using an identical basketball shoe model with half a size larger (large), matched size (medium) and half a size smaller (small) according to participants’ individual foot size were used. Twenty-nine university basketball players provided their perception scores of twelve fit variables. Perception scores were analysed by Friedman and Wilcoxon tests. Significance level was set at p < 0.05. For reliability analyses, a retest (day 2) was performed two weeks after the first test day (day 1) during which identical procedures were applied with the same participants. Shoe x Day (3 × 2) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of shoe ratings were used to determine inter-day effect and inter-day reliability. Results: All protocols demonstrated perception scores corresponding to the actual dimensions of larger and smaller shoes. The Step-In protocol allowed the best shoe differentiation. The Step-In and the Basic Course protocols showed substantial inter-day reliability (ICC > 0.6 to ⩽ 0.8) for six out of twelve fit variables. In contrast, the BSC protocol showed substantial inter-day reliability for only one out of twelve fit variables. Perception ratings of collar girth, rearfoot width, heel counter, midfoot width, and midfoot girth did not show substantial inter-day reliability in any of the protocols. Conclusion: Less complex fit perception protocols were found to be more reliable compared to a more complex protocol. Several fit variables evaluated for the heel and the midfoot did not show substantial reliability in any of the perception protocols, indicating that those variables may not be measured subjectively with consistent outcomes or that alternative variable-specific testing protocols are warranted.

Anthropometric influences on dynamic foot shape: Measurements of plantar three-dimensional foot deformation

Purpose: Advances in scanner technology enable the capture of feet during walking. Knowledge of dynamic deformation is essential for fundamental research and application-oriented improvements in terms of comfortable and functional footwear. The core hypothesis of our study is that there is a relationship between dynamic foot measures and the anthropometric dimensions age, gender and body mass index. Methods: We measured the dynamic foot shape of 129 subjects (77 female, 52 male) with a plantar dynamic scanner system. During stance phase we captured maximum values (MaxDyn) and changes (ΔDyn) of length, width, and height measures as well as angles and indices of feet. We identified relationships between foot measures and anthropometric dimensions by two statistical methods: analysis of variance (ANOVA) between matched groups and multiple regression analysis within whole sample size. Results: MaxDyn values of foot width measures are higher in overweight subjects. Most important predictors of MaxDyn are static measures and gender, regarding values that characterise the longitudinal arch as well as lateral ball length. More dynamic deformation was found in ball and arch angle as well as medial ball length and ball width of overweight subjects and in width measures of women. Multiple regression analysis detects body weight as an important predictor for changes in foot width measures as well as arch height and angle. Conclusion: The ability to collect foot measures during natural walking is the basis for the following findings. First, our study confirms that static foot measures can be used as basic design criteria for footwear. Second, our study points out the influence of factors like gender and body weight on dynamic foot morphology. Consideration of these additional factors can essentially improve design methods and particularly the fit of footwear.

Gauging the Emerging Plus-Size Footwear Market An Anthropometric Approach

In order to gauge the emerging needs for the plus-size footwear market, this study tested the following four hypotheses: 1) as BMI increases, foot morphology changes; 2) increased BMI influences consumers' footwear selection criteria; 3) increased BMI negatively affects consumers' footwear fit; and 4) increased BMI negatively affects consumers' satisfaction with the current footwear market. One hundred and twenty-one female college students were recruited from a large 4-year U.S. university, and only Caucasian data (n=99) were used for statistical analysis. Prior to 3D scanning, a short questionnaire was administered to assess the participants' footwear selection criteria and satisfaction with the current footwear offerings, as well as demographic information. Anthropometry of the participants' feet was measured, using a 3D foot scanner (INFOOT® by I-ware). Results showed that BMI positively affected the increase of anthropometric measurements; as BMI increased, the participants indicated significantly higher scores on shoe length and insole cushion and a lower score on fashion trendiness in the perceived importance of footwear selection criteria; they tended to wear improperly fitting shoes to accommodate wider and thicker feet; and they were significantly less satisfied with the current market than those with a lower BMI. Strong relationships in all four hypotheses were evident, and findings of this study urged the footwear manufacturing industry to recognize the unfulfilled niche market for the growing population of plus-size consumers.

The Application of Toe-deletion and Ankle Deformation Technique in Shoe Fitting Assessment

Customization and e-commerce are the new trends in footwear manufacturing and marketing. These methods of business have been promoting the increasing importance of footwear fit and comfort in addition to footwear fashion and style. Some methodologies have been established to quantify footwear fit, however much is needed to make the fit assessment usable. This paper presents a method for the error calculation between the foot and the shoe-last based on the modification of previous research. The proposed technique is very useful for the prediction of footwear fit related comfort. The first step in this method is the selection of a shoe-last based on the foot anthropometric data. The selected shoe-last was then converted to shoe shape by using algorithms proposed in this paper. For ease of interpretation, the errors between the foot and the deformed shoe-last were presented as mean, standard deviation and error mapping plots. The proposed method seems to be promising as it provides an improved an effective a...

Reliability of a basketball specific testing protocol for footwear fit and comfort perception

This study introduces a method for evaluating fit and comfort perception of basketball footwear by using a basketball specific course (BSC) and to examine respective inter-day reliability. Methods: The BSC incorporated a sequence of acceleration, deceleration, lateral shuffling, lay-up, backward running, jumping, and landing movements. Nineteen university basketball players provided their perception scores of four fit and seven comfort items after going through the BSC. Six footwear conditions were counterbalanced. Perception scores were analysed by repeated measures ANOVAs (comfort) or Friedman tests (fit) as VAS and Likert scales were applied. Significance level was set at p < 0.05. For reliability analysis, a retest (day 2) was performed 2 weeks after using the identical protocol of the first test day (day 1). Two-way repeated measures ANOVAs and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of shoe ratings were used to determine inter-day effect and inter-day reliability. Results: Shoe effects on comfort were found for heel cushioning, forefoot cushioning, collar, medial–lateral control, and overall comfort in either one or both test days. Shoe effects on fit (heel region) were only identified on day 2. No inter-day effect was found for all fit and comfort perception measurements. All comfort items showed substantial inter-day reliability (ICC, 0.61 to 0.8). Only one fit item (shoe length) showed almost perfect reliability (ICC > 0.80) while the others showed moderate reliability (ICC, 0.41 to 0.6). Conclusion: Differences in basketball footwear fit and comfort perception were identified when performing the BSC testing protocol. The current protocol demonstrated substantial reliability for evaluating comfort perception but only moderate reliability for evaluating fit perception in most cases, indicating that distinct testing protocols for comfort and fit perception need to be considered for respective testing.

Podiatry in continence

Continence has been implicated as a contributing factor in falls related injury. In aged care rehabilitation, continence was identified by podiatry as an issue in regards to footwear selection and was an opportunity to improve falls prevention education and improved quality of life for the patient. The key elements of this education focused on the importance of slip-resistance in footwear and washability. Kingston Centre is an aged care rehabilitation service that has an existing podiatry lead footwear prescription service, where patients can purchase footwear with optimal features for a reduced cost. Most of the footwear is machine-washable and several have an outsole configuration that actively grips the floor in stance, which is advantageous on a wet surface. An education package was developed for continence nurses to improve knowledge of footwear, and foot care issues and promote referral to podiatry. Up-skilling continence nurses in the importance of footwear selection, footwear laundering as well as general foot care, has improved awareness of the relationship between appropriate footwear, falls prevention and continence. Anecdotally, there has been a reduction in falls in relation to continence issues. This will be further investigated in future. Of particular note is that the delivery of educative in-services and the majority of footwear prescription and fitting is performed by a skilled podiatry allied health assistant. The podiatrist was in engaged in the development but has a now assumed a smaller consultative role. Engaging a podiatry allied health assistant in this way has expanded the service while still allowing the professional staff to focus high risk patients. It also has improved quality of life implications for a population that would not have been seen by podiatry.

B-10 Integration of CAD and Image Data for Computational Simulation

sensorised footwear for providing some kind of feedback such as activity monitoring or footwear status. Functional customisation: meaning footwear fit for the individual and the purpose of use, based on individual biomechanics and activity. The SSHOES project (www.sshoes.eu) aims at an ultimate goal of the footwear industry: Being able to provide customised footwear, adapted to the client’s particular anatomy and motion patterns during the activity for which the footwear is intended. Some of the milestones to achieve this are: Developing an inexpensive laboratory and a fast and easy protocol for gathering the client’s information, transfer and integrate that information into the design and finally a solution for the “in series production of customised footwear”. The SSHOES project has narrowed the commitment, confining it to diabetic feet and the prevention of first metatarsal or hallux ulceration. If the project succeeds, the same procedure should be applicable to most of the other customised, functional or fashion designs. The knowledge on the interplay between design features and biomechanics and even on what biomechanical outcome should be targeted is quite scarce. At this stage no fully automated solution from the measurement of parameters to the final shoe would be realistic. The aim is offering a “Knowledge Based” (KB) guidance tool that helps taking decisions about design characteristics, materials available, etc. This relies on CAD systems supported by open architectures of meta-data capable of providing parametric designs of lasts, insoles and outsoles for specific feet, considering biomechanical parameters as well as other shoe andmaterial related features. The final goal is an engineering framework for the full automation of product manufacturing going from the patient to the final product manufacturing. Acknowledgements: This research is funded by the European Community’s 7th Framework Programme within the SSHOES project (NMP2-SE-2009–229261), which involves 11 partners from University, Research and footwear industry.

Dimensional differences for evaluating the quality of footwear fit

Very few standards exist for fitting products to people. Footwear is a noteworthy example. This study is an attempt to evaluate the quality of footwear fit using two-dimensional foot outlines. Twenty Hong Kong Chinese students participated in an experiment that involved three pairs of dress shoes and one pair of athletic shoes. The participants' feet were scanned using a commercial laser scanner, and each participant wore and rated the fit of each region of each shoe. The shoe lasts were also scanned and were used to match the foot scans with the last scans. The ANOVA showed significant (p < 0.05) differences among the four pairs of shoes for the overall, fore-foot and rear-foot fit ratings. There were no significant differences among shoes for mid-foot fit rating. These perceived differences were further analysed after matching the 2D outlines of both last and feet. The point-wise dimensional difference between foot and shoe outlines were computed and analysed after normalizing with foot perimeter. The dimensional difference (DD) plots along the foot perimeter showed that fore-foot fit was strongly correlated (R 2 > 0.8) with two of the minimums in the DD-plot while mid-foot fit was strongly correlated (R 2 > 0.9) with the dimensional difference around the arch region and a point on the lateral side of the foot. The DD-plots allow the designer to determine the critical locations that may affect footwear fit in addition to quantifying the nature of misfit so that design changes to shape and material may be possible.

Foot landmarking for footwear customization

As consumers are becoming increasingly selective of what they wear on their feet, manufacturers are experiencing problems developing and fitting the right footwear. Literature suggests that shoes with a shape similar to feet may be comfortable because they attempt to maintain the feet in a neutral posture. The objective of this paper is to develop a metric to quantify mismatches between feet and lasts and also to be able to generate the two-dimensional outline of the foot using the minimum number of landmarks. Fifty Hong Kong Chinese were participants in the experiment. In addition to subject weight, height, foot length and foot width, the left foot outlines were drawn and 18 landmarks were marked on each of the two-dimensional foot outlines. A step-wise procedure was used to reduce the chosen 18 landmarks to eight, such that the mean absolute negative error (an indicator of ‘tightness’) between the foot outline and the modelled curve was 1.3 mm. These eight landmarks seem to show an improvement over those proposed by other researchers, thus showing the importance of choosing the right landmarks for modelling the foot. The positive and negative absolute errors were on average 1.8 mm and 1.3 mm respectively. Moreover, the mean errors for the toe region and for the rest of the foot were 1.7 mm and 1.6 mm respectively. The results indicate that the foot outline, an important component for footwear functionality and fitting, may be modelled using eight critical landmarks.

42S シューズフィッティング定量化へのアプローチ

42S シューズフィッティング定量化へのアプローチ

Outcome of calcaneal fractures treated operatively and non-operatively. The effect of litigation on outcomes

The optimum management of calcaneal fractures is controversial. These injuries are frequently associated with compensation litigation, which effects the outcome. To assess the outcome of operatively and conservatively managed intra-articular calcaneal fractures and to examine the effect of compensation litigation on outcome. This was a retrospective study of calcaneal fractures from a single regional trauma unit, with management decided by the admitting consultant surgeon's preference. Fifty-four patients (33 operative, 21 conservative) with an average follow-up of 40 months (range 14-78 months) were reviewed. Sixteen patients (30%) were pursuing a compensation case resulting from the injury. Despite similar fractures, medical co-morbidity and trauma energy, significantly worse outcome scores were seen in litigants (p < 0.0001). Footwear fitting problems were greater in litigants. Time off work was more than twice that of non-litigants (14.5 vs 6 months, p < 0.01). Results were similar between the operative and non-operative groups in terms of functional score, footwear problems and time off work. Litigation was the major determinant of outcome following calcaneal fracture repair; highlighting the unreliability of subjective evaluation in determining outcome in the face of litigation. No subset of patients appeared to significantly benefit from internal fixation of their fracture.

The Quality of Footwear Fit: What we know, don't know and should know

Even though fit ranks as one of the most important considerations in the purchase of a shoe, the quality of fit has no metric and is hence poorly assessed. Manufacturers, retailers, and customers tend to use trial and error techniques to improve footwear fit. This approach is rather cumbersome and very unscientific. In this paper, we present a methodology to assess and thereby quantify footwear fit so that comfort can be predicted and consequently improved lasts and shoes can be produced that match different shapes of feet.

Anthropometric, Muscular Fitness, and Injury History Comparisons by Gender of Youth Soccer Teams

Soccer knee injuries are common and adolescent girls are particularly at risk. This investigation compared and contrasted anthropometric, fitness, agility, playing experience, ankle/knee injury history, and footwear between adolescent female and male soccer players, and compared them with selected age- and gender-matched norms. Two soccer clubs (1 F, 1 M, 16 members each) participated in this investigation. Boys were stronger, taller, leaner, and more agile, and had more endurance, while girls had greater musculotendinous extensibility (p ≤ 0.001). Female lean body mass standardization produced nonsignificant (p > 0.05) torque or single-leg broad jump differences. No differences were found for abdominal muscle endurance. Ankle/knee injury history revealed nonsignificant differences. Girls had less ankle plantar flexor extensibility (p < 0.001). This may provide them compensatory dynamic joint stability for injury prevention in the presence of commonly related differences in knee muscle torque production, knee biomechanics, body fat %, and footwear fit.