Validity and repeatability of three commercially available in-shoe pressure measurement systems

Background In-shoe pressure measurement devices are commonly used in research and clinical settings to quantify pressure on the plantar foot. Various in-shoe pressure measurement devices are currently available and they differ in their size, number of sensors, sensor type and therefore their loading response and accuracy. Previous comparisons focus on pressure plates [1]. An in-shoe study highlighted that the F-Scan system became erroneous at pressures over 200kPa and the repeatability of the Novel device was high [2]. However the long loading durations (11 minutes) studied has limited application to a real-life setting. The validity and repeatability of each system effects their appropriateness for applications within clinical and research test settings. This abstract, therefore aims to establish the suitability of each device to test protocols with differing loading magnitudes and durations.