DYNAMIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENT ABOUT THE FOOT AND ANKLE

Abstract

Measures about the foot and ankle within footwear are required to assess the full dynamic interaction. To address this, piezo resistive fabric sensors provide accurate pressure measurement that can be applied within the narrow confines of the footwear-to-footlankle interface. An example of this has been shown in studies focusing on ice hockey skate boots during forward skating. Sixteen flexible piezo-resistive sensors (1.2 cm x 1.8 cm x 0.2 cm thick, FSA Verg Inc.,Canada) were taped to discrete anatomical surfaces of the plantar foot, dorsal foot, the posterior aspect of heel and leg, medial aspect of foot, and lateral aspect of the foot. The results showed an increase in pressure during the stance phase of gait at each anatomical surface with a reciprocal decrease in pressure during swing.