BACKGROUND Foot health is an important issue in older people. Inappropriate shoes increase the risk of callous and ulcer formation, as well as increasing the risk of falls. There are no data defining the size of this problem. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to investigate the proportion of elderly people on a general rehabilitation ward wearing incorrectly sized shoes and to look for the p...

A study was designed to evaluate if shock absorbing material (ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA)) on the shoes of long leg braces could decrease the accelerations and consequent shock forces transmitted through the leg and brace during paraplegic walking. Six male paraplegics (26-55 years old) took part, four using a "swing-to" and two a "swing-through" technique when walking. Recordings comprised accel...

OBJECTIVE to examine the effects of footwear on balance in a sample of older women attending a day hospital. DESIGN this was a crossover trial with a quasi-randomised allocation. SETTING assessments took place in the geriatric day hospital. SUBJECTS a cohort of 100 older women aged 60 years and over attending a day hospital. METHODS demographic data and a brief falls history were record...

OBJECTIVE Sports people always strive to avoid injury. Sports shoe designs in many sports have been shown to affect traction and injury rates. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the differing stiffness and torque in rugby boots that are designed for the same effect. METHODS Five different types of rugby shoes commonly worn by scrum forwards were laboratory tested for rotational stiffness...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects that modern shoes have on gait and lower extremity joint loads in osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS Gait analyses were performed on 75 subjects with knee OA while they were wearing their everyday walking shoes and while they were walking barefoot. The trials involved optoelectronic detection of external markers during ambulation over a multicomponent force plate, ...

PURPOSE Nowadays, fashion has caused that many young women are wearing high-heeled shoes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of long-term walking in high-heeled shoes on the foot mechanics during barefoot gait. METHODS Forty-three young women (22 ± 2.1 years) divided into two groups participated in this retrospective cohort study. The first group was composed of women...

BACKGROUND It is known that when barefoot, gait biomechanics of diabetic neuropathic patients differ from non-diabetic individuals. However, it is still unknown whether these biomechanical changes are also present during shod gait which is clinically advised for these patients. This study investigated the effect of the participants own shoes on gait biomechanics in diabetic neuropathic individu...

Possible benefits of barefoot running have been widely discussed in recent years. Uncertainty exists about which footwear strategy adequately simulates barefoot running kinematics. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of athletic footwear with different minimalist strategies on running kinematics. Thirty-five distance runners (22 males, 13 females, 27.9 ± 6.2 years, 179.2 ...

BACKGROUND Wearing shoes of insufficient length during childhood has often been cited as leading to deformities of the foot, particularly to the development of hallux valgus disorders. Until now, these assumptions have not been confirmed through scientific research. This study aims to investigate whether this association can be statistically proven, and if children who wear shoes of insufficien...

OBJECTIVE This investigation aims to determine if more expensive running shoes provide better cushioning of plantar pressure and are more comfortable than low-cost alternatives from the same brand. METHODS Three pairs of running shoes were purchased from three different manufacturers at three different price ranges: low (40-45 pounds), medium (60-65 pounds) and high (70-75 pounds). Plantar pr...