Regional foot pressure during running, cutting, jumping, and landing.
BACKGROUND
Evaluating shoes during sport-related movements may provide a better assessment of plantar loads associated with repetitive injury and provide more specific data for comparing shoe cushioning characteristics.


OBJECTIVE
Accelerating, cutting, and jumping pressures will be higher than in straight running, differentiating regional shoe cushioning performance in sport-specific movements.


METHODS
Controlled laboratory study.


METHODS
Peak pressures on seven anatomic regions of the foot were assessed in 10 male college athletes during running straight ahead, accelerating, cutting left, cutting right, jump take-off, and jump landing wearing Speed TD and Air Pro Turf Low shoes (Nike, Beaverton, Ore). Pedar insoles (Novel, Munich, Germany) were sampled at 99 Hz during the 6 movements.


RESULTS
Cutting and jumping movements demonstrated more than double the pressure at the heel compared with running straight, regardless of shoe type. The Air Pro Turf showed overall lower pressure for all movement types (P<.0377). Cutting to the left, the Air Pro Turf shoe had lower heel pressures (36.6 +/- 12.5 N/cm(2)) than the Speed TD (50.3 +/- 11.2 N/cm(2)) (P<.0001), and the Air Pro Turf had lower great toe pressures than the Speed TD (44.8 +/- 8.1 N/cm(2) vs 54.4 +/- 8.4 N/cm(2); P= .0002). The Air Pro Turf also had significantly lower pressures than the Speed TD at the central forefoot during acceleration (38.2 +/- 8.3 N/cm(2) vs 50.8 +/- 7.4 N/cm(2); P<.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Sport-related movements load the plantar surface of the foot more than running straight. Shoe cushioning characteristics were more robustly assessed during sport-related movements (4 significant results detected) compared with running straight (1 significant result detected).


CONCLUSIONS
There is an interaction between shoe cushioning characteristics and sport-related movements that may influence plantar pressure and repetitive stress injuries.
Orendurff
Michael S
MS
Motion Analysis Laboratory, Center of Excellence for Limb Loss Prevention & Prosthetic Engineering, Rehabilitation Research & Development, Veterans Administration Hospital, Seattle, Washington, USA. morendurff@hotmail.com
Rohr
Eric S
ES
Segal
Ava D
AD
Medley
Jonathan W
JW
Green
John R
JR
Kadel
Nancy J
NJ
D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011312:Pressure; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D012775:Shoes