A randomized, controlled trial of commercially available canvas shoes was carried out in a rural area of Ethiopia. Subjects with deformed and anaesthetic feet, most with ulceration, were given either canvas shoes or plastazote/moulded shoes and followed up for one year. Seventy-five percent of subjects with ulcers who used canvas shoes had no ulcer at the end of the study, while no significant ...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the functional effects and acceptability of rocker-soled shoes that were designed to relatively "unload" the calf muscles during walking in people with calf claudication due to peripheral arterial disease. METHODS In this randomised AB/BA crossover trial, participants completed two assessment visits up to two weeks apart. At each visit, parti...

We present a prototype web application for children shoes suggestion. We are interested in attributes of foot and shoes that can comfort the children’s feet. The key attributes are types of shoes, size, and brands. For the feet, there are width, length, thickness, sole curve, toe and others. The application has the database that stores these children shoes and foot characteristics for training....

BACKGROUND Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common and disabling condition. Abnormalities in knee loading play an important role in disease pathogenesis, yet there are few non-surgical treatments for knee OA capable of reducing knee load. This two-arm randomised controlled trial is investigating the efficacy of specially-designed unloading shoes for the treatment of symptoms in people with knee OA...

There has been little scientific investigation of the impact of dance shoes on foot motion or dance injuries. The pointed (plantar-flexed) foot is a fundamental component of both the technical requirements and the traditional aesthetic of ballet and jazz dancing. The aims of this study were to quantify the externally observed angle of plantar flexion in various jazz shoes compared with barefoot...

BACKGROUND Gait analysis after total ankle replacement and ankle arthrodesis is usually measured barefoot. However, this does not reflect reality. The purpose of this study was to compare patients barefoot and with footwear. METHODS We compared 126 patients (total ankle replacement 28, ankle arthrodesis 57, and tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis 41) with 35 healthy controls in three conditions (b...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the perceived comfort, plantar pressure, and rearfoot motion between laced running shoes and elastic-covered running shoes. Fifteen male amateur runners participated in the study. Each participant was assigned laced running shoes and elastic-covered running shoes for use during the study. The perceived comfort, plantar ...

[Purpose] This study aimed to determine the most appropriate height for shoe heels by measuring the displacement of the COP (center of pressure) and changes in the distribution of foot pressure after walking in flat (0.5 cm), middle-heeled (4 cm), and high-heeled (9 cm) shoes for 1 hour. [Methods] A single-subject design was used, with 15 healthy women wearing shoes with heels of each height in...

We assessed whether wearing wide-heeled shoes has a similar effect on knee torque to narrow-heeled shoes by measuring the joint torques of 20 healthy women during walking. Wearing wide-heeled shoes had a 30% greater effect on peak external knee flexor torque than walking barefoot. Walking with wide-heeled and narrow-heeled shoes increased peak knee varus torque by 26% and 22%, respectively. Our...

Background Preceding studies reported that differences in pressure distribution according to shoe type [1] and there were many comparative analyses of motor mechanics between travel shoes and general running shoes [2], but they were confined to research on pressure distribution of foot and studies on muscle activity and gait cycle depending on shoes heel were rare. Therefore, the purpose of thi...