COMPARISON OF ENERGY EXPENDITURE ON NORMAL SUBJECTS FOR DIFFERENT FOOTWEAR

Abstract

Energy expenditure differs in accordance with the physical activity and with the appliances used to support the activity.Footwear is one of the prime supporting appliances for physical activity. An attempt is made to quantify and compare the work efficiency of eight normal male subjects with and without two different types of footwear A VICON movement analysis setup with an AMTI force platform was used to study the ground reaction forces.Mechanical work uttered by the body was derived from the reaction forces. External Mechanical work can be defined as the force exerted on the body.times the displacement of the centre of mass of the body. Energy expenditure was calculated with the values of mechanical work. The energy expenditure values for walking barefooted and with footwear are calculated and the results are reported. A comparative study on the material. and design aspect of soles have also been discussed.