Surface effects on in-shoe plantar pressure and tibial impact during running

Purpose： This study aims to explore the effects of running on different surfaces on the characteristics of in-shoe plantar pressure and tibial acceleration. Methods： Thirteen male recreational runners were required to run at 12 km/h velocity on concrete, synthetic track, natural grass, a normal treadmill, and a treadmill equipped with an ethylene vinyl acetate （EVA） cushioning underlay （treadmill_EVA）, respectively. An in-shoe plantar pressure system and an accelerometer attached to the tibial tuberosity were used to record and analyze the characteristics of plantar pressure and tibial impact during running. Results： The results showed that there were no significant differences in the 1 st and 2nd peak plantar pressures （time of occurrence）, pressure-time integral, and peak pressure distribution for the concrete, synthetic, grass, and normal treadmill surfaces. No significant differences in peak positive acceleration were observed among the five tested surface conditions. Compared to the concrete surface, however, running on treadmillEVA showed a significant decrease in the 1st peak plantar pressure and the pressure time integral for the impact phase （p 〈 0.05）. These can be further ascribed to a reduced peak pressure observed at heel region （p 〈 0.05）. Conclusion： There may not be an inevitable relationship between the surface and the lower-limb impact in runners. It is, however, still noteworthy that the effects of different treadmill surfaces should be considered in the interpretation of plantar pressure performance and translation of such results to overground running.

Smart passive gait retraining intervention via pebbles for reducing peakplantar pressure: Short-term results

Recently, there has been a growing interest in gait retraining to alter the gait parameters of different populations.In these gait retraining, peak plantar pressure (PPP) was considered as an important parameter of the footbiomechanics. It has been found that high PPP correlates to the common foot deformities including pes planus/cavus. However, previous studies utilized excessive electronics in gait retraining, which is challenging toimplement daily especially when device cleaning, flexibility and portability are considered. Therefore, this studyinvestigated feasibility of a novel unpowered gait retraining for reducing high PPP. Twelve potential participantsidentified for investigation through a baseline PPP evaluation with Novel Pedar-x system. Participants received asingle session for the gait retraining with pebbles in the form of rigid spherical inserts (RSI) placed in locations ofhigh PPP inside the deformable insole. This provides tactile cues alerting the participants to alter their gait toreduce excess PPP. The PPP values were tracked in weekly follow-up sessions for 6 weeks. The results demonstrated that participants responded to RSI altering their gait to reduce PPP and maximum force by 14% and 10.5%after six weeks respectively. This study is valuable for physicians in reducing PPP when non-electronics arerequired.