The biomechanical differences of wearing safety shoes compared with everyday shoes on dynamic balance when tripping over an obstacle

Mads Daabeck Boysen, Mathias Munk-Hansen, Mike Steffensen, Anders Holsgaard-Larsen, Pascal Madeleine*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
43 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Safety shoes are known to challenge dynamic balance, but the interaction between footwear and trips has not been thoroughly explored. This study investigated the biomechanical differences on dynamic balance during unexpected trip perturbations between safety shoes and everyday shoes. The vertical position of the whole-body center of mass (CoM) and the linear momentum of the swing leg from seven females and sixteen males were analyzed in five subsequent gait cycles. Additionally, the recovery strategies (i.e., the displacement of the foot after tripping) were classified. Wearing safety shoes, the linear momentum of the foot and whole leg increased, and the vertical position of the whole-body CoM was lower after the perturbation. Additionally, the recovery strategy when wearing safety shoes demonstrated a lower displacement of the foot. In conclusion, wearing safety shoes was found to have negative biomechanical effects when having to circumvent a trip, and this potentially increased the risk of falling.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104040
JournalApplied Ergonomics
Volume111
ISSN0003-6870
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Trip
  • Fall
  • Perturbation
  • Locomotion
  • Statistical parametric mapping

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