Impact of Footwear on Gait Parameter

Abstract

A pair of faulty footwear can alter your gait pattern as well as can cause stress on your lower extremity. Study emphasis impact of high heels and flat heels on gait and also highlights pain and aches due to faulty footwear of young female adults. A group of 18 females with mean age, height and weight 22.67 ± 1.49 years, 157.65 ± 6.70 cm and 55.72 ± 10.89 kg respectively were selected for the study. Subjects were allowed to walk at self-selected speed for three test conditions, i.e., barefoot walk, flat heel walk, and high heel walk. Their gait was captured by Qualisys Motion Capture System with Oqus infrared camera (6 no.) Sweden. Speed and stride length decreased whereas stride width and double limb support increased. Consumer perspective while purchasing and using footwear was examined on 90 young females, poor choice of footwear negatively influenced the gait pattern. Footwear design is proposed in the study to reduce stress on lower extremity while acquiring natural gait.