Department of Podiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086 Australia.
Gait Posture. 2014 Jan;39(1):247-51. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.07.116. Epub 2013 Aug 20.
Plantar forefoot pain is common in older people and is related to increased peak pressures under the foot during gait. Variations in the hardness of the shoe sole may therefore influence both the magnitude of loading under the foot and the perceived comfort of the shoe in this population. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of varying shoe sole hardness on plantar pressures and comfort in older people with forefoot pain. In-shoe plantar pressures under the forefoot, midfoot and rearfoot were recorded from 35 older people (mean age 73.2, SD 4.5 years) with current or previous forefoot pain using the pedar-X(®) system. Participants walked at their normal comfortable speed along an 8m walkway in shoes with three different levels of sole hardness: soft (Shore A25), medium (Shore A40) and hard (Shore A58). Shoe comfort was measured on a 100mm visual analogue scale. There were statistically significant differences in peak pressure of between 5% and 23% across the forefoot, midfoot and rearfoot (p<0.01). The hard-soled shoe registered the highest peak pressures and the soft-soled shoe the lowest peak pressures. However, no differences in comfort scores across the three shoe conditions were observed. These findings demonstrate that as shoe sole hardness increases, plantar pressure increases, however this does not appear to have a significant effect on shoe comfort.
足底前脚疼痛在老年人中很常见，与步行时足底的峰值压力增加有关。鞋底硬度的变化可能会影响足底的负荷大小和该人群对鞋子的舒适感。本研究旨在确定鞋底硬度变化对前脚疼痛的老年人足底压力和舒适度的影响。使用 pedar-X(®)系统，从 35 名有当前或既往前脚疼痛的老年人（平均年龄 73.2±4.5 岁）中记录前脚、中脚和后脚的足底压力。参与者以正常舒适的速度在三种不同硬度的鞋底（软底（肖氏 A25）、中底（肖氏 A40）和硬底（肖氏 A58））的鞋子中沿着 8m 的走道行走。使用 100mm 的视觉模拟量表测量鞋子的舒适度。在前脚、中脚和后脚，峰值压力的差异在 5%到 23%之间（p<0.01）。硬底鞋记录的峰值压力最高，软底鞋记录的峰值压力最低。然而，在三种鞋子条件下，舒适度评分没有差异。这些发现表明，随着鞋底硬度的增加，足底压力会增加，但这似乎对鞋子的舒适度没有显著影响。
