Changes in Contact Pressure at the Lower Extremity Joint with an Unstable Shoe

Seungju Lee, Soo Won Chae

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Unstable shoes are known to increase muscle activities and change one’s gait pattern. However, the effect of unstable shoes on articular cartilages of lower extremity has not been studied. Since the changes in contact pressure applied to cartilage may destroy the cartilage matrix and cause arthritis, the effect of the gait pattern on the contact pressure at the lower extremity joint needs to be studied. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of wearing unstable shoes on contact pressure distribution of the cartilage of lower extremities by integrating motion analysis with finite element (FE) analysis. Among unstable shoe, Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) shoe was considered as evaluation. Motion capture and gait analysis were performed and the results were applied to FE model as boundary and loading conditions. Finally, FE analysis was performed to simulate the biomechanical behavior of the knee and ankle cartilages according to the changes in gait patterns. Compared to normal shoes, MBT shoe decreased the maximum contact pressure of knee and ankle cartilages during a gait cycle.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1611-1619
    Number of pages9
    JournalInternational Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
    Volume20
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019 Sept 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning) (No. NRF-2016R1A2B4013885, NRF-2019R1H1A2080106).

    Keywords

    • Contact pressure distribution
    • Finite element analysis
    • Gait analysis
    • Knee and ankle
    • Unstable shoe

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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