PLANTAR PRESSURE ANALYSIS DURING STAIR DESCENT WITH VARIOUS LOADS IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Thirteen school children aged 12.21 ± 0.98 years carried backpack and one-strap athletic bag during their stair ascent and descent. The load weights of the bags included 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% of body weight. A Novel Pedar System was used to record and analyze the insole pressure during stair descending with different loads. The first peak force was 1.59 times the second peak force. A load of 15% of body weight induced a significant increase in the maximum peak force for both bags, which was 195% of body weight and 1.25 times the peak force with no load. The force-to-time ratio of the first peak force in this stair mode was about 3 times that in the stair ascent presented in the previous study.