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In the dynamic world of fashion, high-heeled footwear is revered as a symbol of style, luxury and sophistication. Yet, beneath the facade of elegance of classy footwear lies the harsh reality of discomfort and pain. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of wearing high-heeled shoes on the sensation of pain across different body regions over a period of 6 h. It involved fifty female participants, all habitual wearers of high-heeled shoes, aged between 20 and 30 years. Each participant kept a record of their perceptions of pain and discomfort every hour for a total of 6 h using a 0–10 pain scale with 0 indicating no pain and 10 indicating severe pain. The findings reveal a progressive rise in pain throughout wear, with the most intense pain reported in the back, calcaneus, and metatarsals. The analysis shows that after approximately 3.5 h, participants experience significant increases in pain levels. However, the relationship between heel height and pain is not linear. It appears that a heel height of 7.5 cm is the threshold where overall body pain becomes significant. The study suggests that a duration of 3.5 h of wear and a heel height of 7.5 cm serve as critical points to decrease overall body pain. Moreover, beyond this heel height, knee pain diminishes compared to other body areas possibly due to the shift towards a more neutral posture. The study findings, coupled with the recommendations, can assist footwear designers in crafting not only stylish but also comfortable shoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetic foot neuropathy is one of the complications of diabetes that affects around 50% of diabetic people. Because peripheral neuropathy involves nerve loss around the foot areas, patients with diabetic neuropathy frequently lose sensation in their feet while walking or standing. Furthermore, since sensory nerves are damaged, the area that holds the majority of the foot pressure and temperature is at high risk of injury. If not diagnosed and treated properly, it can cause foot injury and eventually lead to edema, gangrene, ulcers, amputation, and even death. There are now several techniques of detecting diabetic neuropathy, but they are limited in their availability, cost-effectiveness, and complexity. Aims: The primary goal of this research was to develop devices for early detection and treatment of diabetic foot neuropathy. Methods: The proposed device combines a foot pressure monitoring method and a foot temperature measurement method to diagnose diabetic neuropathy early on, with red light therapy added as a treatment method. For 2 weeks, the device measures the patient's foot pressure and temperature, and light therapy is provided if a change in pressure or temperature at a specific area is observed. Results: The device prototype was successfully developed, and numerous tests were carried out in accordance with the design specifications. For pressure measurement and temperature measurement, measurement accuracy of 99.05% and 99.30%, respectively, were attained. Conclusion: The early detection and treatment device developed in this study could be used at home by diabetic patients as well as in hospitals to test for and treat diabetic foot neuropathy at an early stage. The device incorporates two different methods of diabetic foot neuropathy detection with high measurement accuracy which makes it suitable for use in resource-limited areas at low cost. The incorporation of red light therapy together with the two methods of diabetic neuropathy detection gives another unique feature for our device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the clinical outcomes, rate of return to sports, postural control, and muscle strength between the arthroscopic and open modified Broström procedure for chronic lateral ankle instability (CLAI) patients.Methods: From September 2018 to April 2019, 70 patients diagnosed with CLAI were prospectively included with arthroscopic modified Broström procedure (n = 36) and open modified Broström procedure (n = 34). They were evaluated at five time points (preoperation and 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years postoperatively). The main results examined the rate of return to sports, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Score (AOFAS), Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM), visual analogue scale (VAS), centre of pressure (COP) excursion velocity, time to boundary (TTB), plantar pressure, isokinetic muscle strength and complications.Results: Compared with the open group, the arthroscopic group demonstrated a significantly shorter period of return to the preinjury sport (13.2 ± 2.4 weeks vs. 18.7 ± 3.1 weeks, P = 0.023) and a higher early sport ratio (80.6 vs. 61.8%, P = 0.011) combined with better FAAM sports and AOFAS at 3 months and 6 months postoperatively and VAS at 3 months postoperatively. In addition, better anterior-posterior postural control stability, less time to peak force under lateral hindfoot and better dorsiflexion strength were shown in the arthroscopic group at 6 months postoperatively. No significant difference was found in clinical scores, posture control or muscle strength at the 1- or 2-year follow-up between the two groups.Conclusions: Shorter period and higher rates of return to sport activities and better clinical scores, posture control and muscle strength were achieved in the arthroscopic group at 6 months postoperatively, and no clinical differences were found between arthroscopic and open modified Broström procedure 1 year or 2 years postoperatively. Arthroscopic modified Broström procedure is a reliable procedure for CLAI injuries with the demand for fast exercise recovery.Clinical Registration: ChiCTR1900023999.Level Of Evidence: II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) usually experience pain in the medial compartment of their knee which accompany varus postures. This causes much larger lateral-side foot pressure than that of the medial side which may lead to functional limitation in their daily life. Reducing knee loading during gait could help patients with KOA alleviate pain and improve walking functions. In this study, a prototype for a new pneumatic knee orthosis (PKO) is developed to support the knee by increasing the pneumatic pressure of the PKO during the stance period of walking using foot pressure feedback in real time. Force-sensing resistor sensors in the PKO were used to detect the gait phase and monitor the foot pressures in real time. To investigate the feasibility of the system, walking tests on a treadmill were performed at 2 km/h and 3 km/h by healthy subjects. The results show that the developed PKO can reduce lateral-side foot pressure during stance phase. The PKO in this study could be used as a research tool to investigate the relationship between foot pressure and knee loading as well as therapeutic purposes to reduce medial compartment loading in the knee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The body weight support (BWS) system that allows a patient to support his or her body weight in step-wise fashion, depending on their physical condition, is an important intervention that assists individuals with gait disabilities in their gait rehabilitation. In this paper, we measured human body signals in order to verify a rehabilitation system using active harness that we developed for gait and balance training based on ceiling-rail platform. 20 healthy participants were performed to conduct daily activities related to lower limbs. They did a kind of motions related to daily life (Normal Walking, Stand-to-Sit, and Stair Walking Down) according to variation of body weight support rates (0%, 30%, 50% of subject’s body weight). The effectiveness of the weight supporting on healthy people is analyzed by the muscular activities and foot pressure distribution. In normal walking, the decrease of fore-foot pressure, lateral soleus muscle and biceps femoris muscle were remarkable. The result of stand-to-sit results motion indicated that the rearfoot pressure and tibialis anterior muscle activities exceptionally decreased according to body weight support. The stair walking down results indicate the marked drop of fore-foot pressure and rectus femoris muscle activities. Based on these results, a function of weight supporting is very helpful to improve the gait ability of people with gait disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intense program of physical activity, typical of elite athletes, results in a series of modifications of the posture that in a short period of time can have a negative impact on both their health and performance. These negative effects can be prevented and corrected by an integrated approach that encompasses anthropometry and posture evaluation. The aim of this study is the assessment of the anthropometric and postural parameters of elite athletes of different sports specialities to identify discipline(s) potentially associated with unbalanced postural attitudes. Height, weight, body mass index, stabilometric analysis, foot load, and center of pressure distribution were evaluated to identify which parameters are mainly correlated with postural aspects in professional athletes compared to amateur, age-matched subjects. We found a permanently unbalanced postural attitude in rugby players, skiers, and judokas, which are not, by definition, asymmetric sport disciplines. On the contrary, motorcyclists showed an overall balanced load distribution, probably due to the absence of any special performance required from lower limbs, potentially forcing a specific postural shape. This data is the basis to identify anthropometric and postural parameters mostly modified in different sport disciplines, which need to be always monitored to counteract the establishment of sport-specific imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Insole pressure systems are often more appropriate than force platforms for analysing center of pressure (CoP) as they are more flexible in use and indicate the position of the CoP that characterizes the contact foot/shoe during gait with shoes. However, these systems are typically not synchronized with 3D motion analysis systems. The present paper proposes a direct method that does not require a force platform for synchronizing an insole pressure system with a 3D motion analysis system. The distance separating 24 different CoPs measured optically and their equivalents measured by the insoles and transformed in the global coordinate system did not exceed 2 mm, confirming the suitability of the method proposed. Additionally, during static single limb stance, distances smaller than 7 mm and correlations higher than 0.94 were found between CoP trajectories measured with insoles and force platforms. Similar measurements were performed during gait to illustrate the characteristics of the CoP measured with each system. The distance separating the two CoPs was below 19 mm and the coefficient of correlation above 0.86. The proposed method offers the possibility to conduct new experiments, such as the investigation of proprioception in climbing stairs or in the presence of obstacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microprocessor-based system is described for data capture and analysis of dynamic foot pressure images. A run-length encoding video digitiser captures up to 32 frames at a rate of 25 per second and stores the data in memory. These data are displayed on a colour monitor and can be analysed to produce pressure against time curves or printed or plotted as isopressure contour plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic analysis systems are outlined which enable the quantitation of the static and dynamic distribution of pressures and loads under the foot. The clinical usefulness of these systems is illustrated by several patient studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]