Foot/ankle roll-over characteristics in different heel heights during level walking

Hue Seok Choi, Y. H. Kim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study investigated effects on foot/ankle roll-over characteristics in different heel heights during level walking. Fifteen female volunteers who have neither musculoskeletal nor foot problems were participated in gait analyses, wearing totally four pairs of shoes with different heel heights. To obtain roll-over shape of foot/ankle complex, we used trajectories of ankle and knee joints, and the center of pressure (COP) between initial contact (IC) and opposite initial contact (OIC). For each data, roll-over shape was represented by a circular arc using the least-square method. As a result, we found that the entire roll-over shape moved downwards, as the heel height increased and all traces looked similar even with different heel heights. Results from the motion analysis revealed that when a normal person walks with shoes in different heel height, his/her foot/ankle complex adjusts to the heel height through the ankle joint plantarflexion. In addition, we found that in a normal person, roll-over shape maintains constant through a compensatory action of foot/ankle complex to automatically adjust roll-over shape up to the certain amount of heel heights. In addition, results clearly showed that rollover characteristics during walking, functionally explained by three rockers, can be represented by a single curve, since rollover characteristic including and excluding early loading response period are quite similar. Present preliminary results on roll-over characteristics in a normal person would provide a new understanding of human walking, and furthermore can be applied to the design of prosthetics and orthotics of the lower extremity as well as orthopaedic shoes.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIFMBE Proceedings
EditorsSun I. Kim, Tae Suk Suh
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages2953-2956
Number of pages4
Edition1
ISBN (Print)9783540368397
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes
Event10th World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, WC 2006 - Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Duration: Aug 27 2006Sep 1 2006

Publication series

NameIFMBE Proceedings
Number1
Volume14
ISSN (Print)1680-0737
ISSN (Electronic)1433-9277

Conference

Conference10th World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, WC 2006
Country/TerritoryKorea, Republic of
CitySeoul
Period08/27/0609/1/06

Keywords

  • Center of pressure
  • Foot-ankle roll-over characteristic
  • Gait analysis

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