Results 46.6% of respondents were found to be compliant with their use of prescribed footwear at the 9.6 hours per day threshold. Prior history of ulceration was found to be associated with increased likelihood of compliance (j= 0.286, p= 0.031), which contests the finding of McFarlane & Jensen(2003). Recollection of advice to wear the prescribed footwear indoors was also significantly associat...

OBJECTIVE Prescription custom-made footwear can only be effective in preventing diabetic foot ulcers if worn by the patient. Particularly, the high prevalence of recurrent foot ulcers focuses the attention on adherence, for which objective data are nonexisting. We objectively assessed adherence in patients with high risk of ulcer recurrence and evaluated what determines adherence. RESEARCH DE...

BACKGROUND Plantar heel pain is a common foot disorder aggravated by weight-bearing activity. Despite considerable focus on therapeutic interventions such as orthoses, there has been limited investigation of footwear-related issues in people with plantar heel pain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether people with plantar heel pain experience footwear-related difficulties compared to...

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 w...

BACKGROUND Uncomfortable shoes have been attributed to poor fit and the cause of foot pathologies. Assessing and evaluating comfort and fit have proven challenging due to the subjective nature. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between footwear characteristics and perceived comfort. METHODS Twenty-seven females assessed three different styles of ballet pump shoe for com...

Foot pathologies are common in nearly 80% of all elderly patients, and studies have indicated inappropriate footwear as one of the major underlying cause. It has been postulated that ill-fitting shoe wear affects plantar pressure, thus exacerbating weak balance. Complications arising from foot pathologies, which include difficulty in maintaining balance, have increased the risk of falls that ca...

Background The Peter James Centre (PJC) is the main rehabilitation hospital in Eastern Health. It provides a comprehensive inpatient and community rehabilitation programme. A Footwear Bank was established by the Podiatry Department in 2009 following an audit in 2007 that found 30% of the patients were not wearing suitable shoes to their therapy. The problem of finding suitable footwear had been...

This paper provides a roadmap of how mass customization can be applied to footware design. Particularly, the following questions are to be considered: What shoes are being customized in the market? Can you give more examples? What is the difference between a pair of “tailor-made” shoes with a mass customized one? What is the value derived from the footwear customization? What is the additional ...

In this paper, we propose a system to assess the effect of footwear on the in-shoe plantar pressure and shear during gait. In our previous study, we developed a system for measuring the plantar pressure and shear inside footwear using specialized shoes and insoles with sensors. In this study, based on the previous study, 1) we realized a method to measure directly the in-shoe plantar pressure a...

OBJECTIVE To explore the influence of personal, cultural and socioeconomic factors related to footwear use and non-use in northern Ethiopia. DESIGN A qualitative study was conducted using focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews. Data were collected using semistructured interview guides. SETTING The study was conducted in East and West Gojjam Zones, Amhara region, northwes...