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Previous studies have compared slip resistance of commercially available footwear, however, often lacking the ability to isolate factors such as material and surface properties, or/and geometry. The aim of this study was to compare slip resistance of geometrically identical shoes with varying outsole materials. Three left Ecco Xpedition III shoes were constructed out of three different outsole materials: polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and vulcanised rubber (RU). The shoes were tested for dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) on a steel and a tile surface, without contamination and with glycerine and canola oil as contaminants. The shoes were significantly (p < 0.001) different from each other across all surface/contaminant conditions/combinations, with the PU having a significantly 61–125% (p < 0.001) higher DCOF on contaminated surfaces compared to the RU outsole. Practitioner summary: Previous research has suggested the importance of studying individual parameters separately of footwear in relation to slip resistance. In this study, we managed to construct geometrically identical shoes and compare the slip resistance between three different outsole materials. We found that the polyurethane outsole was the least slippery choice of material for this specific footwear model on contaminated surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to observe the immediate changes on gait speed and qualitative gait parameters with and without the use of additional shoe raise on unaffected lower limb in poststroke hemiparetic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one participants with chronic stroke from SBB College of Physiotherapy, of either gender (40--70 years), able to walk 20 m with or without external aids were included in the study by purposive sampling. Patients with severe spasticity, fixed contractures, and audio, visual, or perceptual impairments were excluded from the study. An observational study was conducted where patients were tested under two conditions -- pre- and postinserting a 1.5 cm shoe raise on the unaffected limb. Patients explained the nature of the study, and a 10-m walk test was performed along with video recording from anterior, posterior, and lateral views, which were later analyzed using Wisconsin Gait Scale (WGS). RESULTS: The mean age was 52.903 ± 8.423 and poststroke duration was 28.806 ± 1.836. Out of 31 patients, 20 were male and 11 female; 17 patients had right-sided hemiparesis, in 14 left-sided hemiparesis, out of which 26 were chronic and 5 were acute poststroke patients. Values for pre- and postscores of WGS were Z = -4.88, P = 0.000, and scores for speed were Z = -4.89, P = 0.000. CONCLUSION: From this study, it has been concluded that shoe raising, given on unaffected lower limb to hemiparetic patients, has shown a significant difference in pre- and postgait qualitative parameters and speed in both males and females of age group 40--70 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to investigate the distribution of net joint moments in the lower extremities during walking on high-heeled shoes compared with barefooted walking at identical speed. Fourteen female subjects walked at 4 km/h across three force platforms while they were filmed by five digital video cameras operating at 50 frames/second. Both barefooted walking and walking on high-heeled shoes (heel height: 9 cm) were recorded. Net joint moments were calculated by 3D inverse dynamics. EMG was recorded from eight leg muscles. The knee extensor moment peak in the first half of the stance phase was doubled when walking on high heels. The knee joint angle showed that high-heeled walking caused the subjects to flex the knee joint significantly more in the first half of the stance phase. In the frontal plane a significant increase was observed in the knee joint abductor moment and the hip joint abductor moment. Several EMG parameters increased significantly when walking on high-heels. The results indicate a large increase in bone-on-bone forces in the knee joint directly caused by the increased knee joint extensor moment during high-heeled walking, which may explain the observed higher incidence of osteoarthritis in the knee joint in women as compared with men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Footpod monitors are wearable devices attaching to the shoe with the ability to sense oscillations in leg movement; however, few studies provide reliability. The purpose was to provide reliability data for outdoor tasks as measured by the Stryd Power Meter, which is a footpod monitor. Young healthy individuals (N=20, male n=12, female n=8) completed two 5-min self-paced walks along a trail, and two 5-min trail runs. Reliability of the tasks was determined using Coefficient of Variation (CV), Intraclass Correlation (ICC), and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Measures during trail running that returned a CV less than 10%, met the ICC threshold of 0.70, and displayed good to excellent 95% CI included pace, average elapsed power, average elapsed form power, average elapsed leg spring, and vertical oscillation. The only variable during walking to meet these criteria was maximal power (CV=4.02%, ICC=0.968, CI=0.902, 0.989). Running tasks completed on a trail generally return more consistent measures for variables that can be obtained from the Stryd footpod device than walking tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many individuals work in jobs that require them to spend much of their day walking. There is evidence to suggest that shoe insoles may reduce the lower extremity discomfort for these workers. This study compared the effects of static and dynamic shoe insoles on lower extremity forces when walking at different speeds. Tibial acceleration (a.k.a. tibial shock) was assessed bilaterally in 30 participants who walked in both athletic shoes and work boots without any additional insole, with additional static insoles, and with additional dynamic insoles. The participants walked a prescribed course at a "slow", "normal", and "fast" pace. With both shoe types, there were significant reductions in tibial shock values when insoles were used. With the work boots, the dynamic insole further reduced tibial shock relative to the static insole. The significant interactions show that the differences between insole conditions become greater with faster walking speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of natural fillers as reinforcement material in the production of composite materials has gained extra attention in recent years from the environmental point of view. For this purpose, the use of vegetable fillers as a potential reinforcement material in elastomeric composites was investigated for the production of footwear sole material. In this study the acorn cups and the waste of acorn obtained after the tannin extraction was used as the reinforcement materials for styrene-butadiene rubber based composites. Acorn cups and pulps (acorn wastes) with different ratio (2, 4 and 6 wt%) were compounded with SBR by Banbury and the preparation of the composites with different filler loadings was performed via compression molding. The thermal characteristics of the bio-composites produced for the footwear sole were investigated in terms of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), and Thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. The results revealed that different concentrations of vegetable fillers had no significant effect on DSC results and the highest TGA results were obtained by the use of 2% acorn cups as a reinforcement material. Besides, the homogenous dispersion of vegetable fillers within the elastomer matrix was achieved successfully and the obtained bio-composite materials were found to be a good candidate to be a bio based sole material in footwear production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T he purpose of this study was to validate a new instrumented insole called ECnsole for measuring flight time during vertical jump performance. 66 participants performed 3 different jump tests (squat jump, countermovement jump and Abalakov jump) twice with flight times determined using an instrumented insole composed of 4 pressure sensors (PreECnsole) and an accelerometer sensor (AccECnsole), a laser platform (Sport Jump System Pro), and a high-speed motion capture system (HSC); the latter 2 systems are considered as reference methods. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), simple linear regression, and the Bland-Altman method were used to assess validity. Regardless of the jump test performed, the ECnsole system showed a systematic bias close to 0 and a low random error (average random error: ± 2.8 cm; ± 3.1 cm Pre ECnsole and AccECnsole vs. HSC system respectively and ± 2.3 cm; ± 2.9 cm PreECnsole and AccECnsole vs. SJS system respectively). The associations between PreECnsole and AccECnsole with the HSC were very high (R² = 0.967 and 0.958 respectively). Furthermore, the associations between PreECnsole and AccECnsole with the SJS were very high (R2 = 0.978 and 0.966 respectively) as well. Therefore, the ECnsole system can be considered an alternative method for measuring jump height during vertical jump performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The footwear insoles and heel counter stiffeners are made using fibrous structure materials. The spatial forming of these parts is made in moulds. After forming, the parts must have the same spatial dimensions with those of the shoe lasts used in the footwear manufacturing. During the forming process, the fibrous structure materials have an elastic-plastic behavior. So, for the moulds dimensioning, it is important to know the percentage of plastic deformation from the total deformation of the stressed material; this means to know the value of these materials forming subscript. The paper presents some theoretical and experimental contributions in finding of the forming subscript of the materials used in the footwear industry, for the footwear insoles and heel counter stiffeners manufacturing. Experiments were made on installations and experimental moulds sphere, cylinder and central angle. Experimental results shows that the forming subscript depends on the mould shape and the sample humidity when the stress is cancel. So, the deformations have a high rate, the sphere surfaces having the, highest forming subscript. In the case of sample forming which use cylinder moulds the value of the forming subscript on these surfaces is the lowest. In the case of the center angle occurs a a high level of plastic deformation. The results will be applied at the designing of the insoles and heel counter stiffeners moulds used for the pre-moulding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the peel strength of an adhesive joint with various types of surface treatments. In the shoe industry, the adhesive properties are very important to ensure the quality of manufacture of the shoe, thus, to better understand the behaviour of the adhesive joint, it is important to analyze the peel resistance in order to adjust the manufacturing process. In this work, natural leather, thermoplastic rubber (TR) and a non-structural, solvent based, polyurethane adhesive were considered. The influence of the application of chemical and/or mechanical surface treatments on substrates in the peel strength of a T joint were analysed. To characterize the surfaces, several test were considered, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and contact angle measurements. It was found that certain surface treatments are required to obtain an adhesive joint capable of satisfying the minimum strength requirements of the shoes sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moulds stock necessary for realization in rhythmically conditions, a certain volume of footwear soles depends on some criterions such as: the range of soles for footwear volume daily realized, the sizes structure of those soles for footwear and, respectively, the sizes tally, the technological cycle for an used mould depending on the equipment efficiency, the provide necessity of spare moulds, the using and fixing conditions etc. From the efficiency point of view, the equipments may have two working posts, or more working posts (always, an even number), as 6, 12, 24, 40 posts. Footwear soles manufacturing takes into account the percentage distribution of the size numbers of the size series. When o portative assembly is used for the manufacturing of the footwear soles using the injection with "n" working posts, it is very important an optimum distribution of the working posts. The disadvantages of these equipments are the situations of the no equilibrium programming of the moulds, so that, in one time, some working posts spread out of the work. The paper presents some practical and theoretical solutions for moulds stock programming in portative assembly for footwear soles injection, so that an optimum equilibrium degree of the working posts will obtain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption reduction is often regarded as profound for sustainability. The overwhelming studies are on the general public and its behaviour. Here we discuss a way for the company to lower consumption by avoiding inventory investments. Added value in terms of sustainability can be gained by using standard manufacturing technologies frequently found in the textile industry to produce new products beyond present paradigms. Specifically we develop knitting techniques on a circular knitting machine to enable production of a thermally insulating textile composite for a multicomponent footwear system. Four cornerstones defined the project; sustainability, availability, comfort and flexibility. The first two relate here to the production, while the last two are coupled to the wearer's experience of the product. Two key questions initiated this project. The first question elaborated on the possibility to produce an untraditional material for a new type of product on a circular knitting machine, which is generally used for high speed production of full-width fabrics. The second question explored the possibility to apply the three-layer principle - generally used in sportswear - on footwear. We show that we can answer both these questions positively. Using an elaborated functional design tool the footwear system was theoretically divided into functional layers; inner, middle and outer, combined with an inner and outer sole. These detachable layers together create a flexible footwear system. A ready-made product, the middle layer with thermal insulating properties, was practically developed, taking use of a heat and water soaking protocol for inducing relaxation in the material and by this air encapsulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study regarding the changes dimensions of the shoe lasts, by using Delcam CRISPIN - Last Maker function Grade. The puprose is to obtain shoe lasts for inferior and superior sizes of the lasts from the database that were obtained width Model Tracer and Last Maker software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive foot pronation is a risk factor of running injuries and motion control footwear is designed to control foot pronation. With the movement transfer between foot pronation and tibial rotation, motion control footwear may not only be confined to controlling foot pronation. In view of the controversies in the literature on effectiveness of motion control footwear, this paper reviewed the efficacy of motion control footwear functions as reported in the literature. Eligible studies were identified from seven electronic databases. Two independent authors extracted the data and assessed the methodological qualities using the Jadad Scale. A total of 14 quasi randomised controlled trials were included. Even though the included studies were rated as 'low quality' according to the Jadad Scale, the data were pooled and analysed. Results revealed that motion control footwear was effective in reducing the amount of foot pronation and the peak vertical impact during landing. There is no evidence that suggests motion control footwear for controlling kinematics of the proximal segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Footwear orthoses have been used by clinicians for many years to treat lower limb pathologies. Materials traditionally used included wood, leather and fabric with recent advances in material sciences leading to the addition of many materials which have suitable properties and characteristics. Clinicians need an understanding of the properties and characteristics of orthosis materials to make informed decisions on the most appropriate material to meet their patients' needs. The objective of this study was to complete a literature review into materials used for footwear orthoses. Studies were grouped into three categories based on methodology: (1) bench testing, (2) simulated in-shoe conditions testing, and (3) testing of materials when placed in footwear while walking or running. Research to date has used a broad range of testing methodologies to examine an extensive range of materials. The lack of information provided by some researchers on the specifications of the materials they tested compromises the ability to directly compare studies. The age of the material tested was found to affect results. Bench and simulated in-shoe conditions testing, while beneficial in providing general information on the characteristics of the materials, only allow for speculation on how the materials would perform when placed in footwear. Conclusions on the characteristics of materials made by some researchers appear to be dependant on the relative relationships between the materials tested within their own research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers tips to choose effective running shoe sizing and mentions that proper selection of a running shoe involves attention to both style and shoe size. It mentions that shoe length should be a thumbnail width longer than the longest toe. It also mentions the importance of paying attention to the shape of the heel of the shoe, If a wider forefoot is needed.