title: Effects of long-term wearing of high-heeled shoes on the control of the body's center of mass motion in relation to the center of pressure during walking.
abstract: High-heeled shoes are associated with instability and falling, leading to injuries such as fracture and ankle sprain. This study investigated the effects of habitual wearing of high-heeled shoes on the body's center of mass (COM) motion relative to the center of pressure (COP) during gait. Fifteen female experienced wearers and 15 matched controls walked with high-heeled shoes (7.3cm) while kinematic and ground reaction force data were measured and used to calculate temporal-distance parameters, joint moments, COM-COP inclination angles (IA) and the rate of IA changes (RCIA). Compared with inexperienced wearers, experienced subjects showed significantly reduced frontal IA with increased ankle pronator moments during single-limb support (p<0.05). During double-limb support (DLS), they showed significantly increased magnitudes of the frontal RCIA at toe-off and contralateral heel-strike, and reduced DLS time (p<0.05) but unaltered mean RCIA over DLS. In the sagittal plane experienced wearers showed significantly increased mean RCIA (p<0.05) and significant differences in the RCIA at toe-off and contralateral heel-strike (p<0.05). Significantly increased hip flexor moments and knee extensor moments at toe-off (p<0.05) were needed for forward motion of the trailing limb. The current results identified the change in the balance control in females after long-term use of high-heeled shoes, providing a basis for future design of strategies to minimize the risk of falling during high-heeled gait.
authors: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Hui-Lien
authors: HL
authors: Chien
authors: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: twlu@ntu.edu.tw.
authors: Tung-Wu
authors: TW
authors: Lu
authors: Department of Surgery, Taiwan Adventist Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Ming-Wei
authors: MW
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D012775:Shoes; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Balance; Gait; Habitual; High heels; Inclination angle