Instrumented Insoles for Designing and Evaluating Footwear

Foot injury and foot related disorders can cause pain, deformity, fatigue, headaches, and exacerbation of foot injury. While these disorders can be caused by a variety of factors, the design of footwear can be an important prevention to further injury or discomfort. While fashion is a high priority to many when selecting footwear, careful and rational design of shoes can help to prevent (or reduce) the onset of many foot disorders and health problems. Instrumented shoes or insoles can be greatly useful for characterizing the forces and biomechanical response to shoe designs. Such devices can be developed as non-obtrusive sensing systems for measuring pressure at various locations in the foot as well as acceleration of the toe and heel during regular, everyday activity. Instrumented insoles reveal much about the biomechanical response of a subject to the specific design of the shoe. Such instrumentation can have great utility in assisting shoe designers with the development of footwear that promotes human well-being and health.