ABSTRACT
Ask an individual who has worn shoes if they perceive that their footwear has any impact on their feet or for that matter on other parts of their body such as their knees or back, and they will often quickly affirm the notion. Similarly, ask a clinician who deals with foot problems if footwear is an important factor in assessment and treatment and they can, almost without exception, supply anecdotal evidence to support the contention. Furthermore, ask the researcher who attempts to glean insight into foot function whether the effect of footwear needs to be controlled in their experiments and they will usually agree that findings from studies where footwear has
20.1 Background ................................................................................................. 437 20.2 Common Methods for Testing Footwear by Hand ......................................442 20.3 Design, Construction, and Operation of the Test Rigs................................444 20.4 Findings .......................................................................................................448 20.5 Reliability ....................................................................................................448 20.6 Heel Counter Stiffness: Summary ..............................................................449 20.7 Forefoot Flex: Summary .............................................................................449 20.8 Torsional Stiffness: Summary .....................................................................449 20.9 Interpretation of Test Rig Reliability Results ............................................. 450 20.10 Future Work ................................................................................................ 450 20.11 Discussion and Conclusion.......................................................................... 451 Questions ................................................................................................................ 452 References .............................................................................................................. 453
been controlled are generally more robust than where it has not. However, scrutiny of the scientific literature on footwear, foot function, comfort, pain, and dysfunction reveals a glaring paradox; very few scientific investigations incorporate quantitative data regarding both the footwear and the feet! In the majority of cases by far, investigations focus on one aspect and omit details of the other-or at best, give a relatively superficial qualitative description. Why should such an incongruous situation exist? Is it a research convenience? Are the omissions considered minor and simply accepted? Is the effort required to rectify such omissions considered too great? Should some attempt be made to improve the status quo? And, if anything can be done, what options might furnish the most fruitful improvement at an acceptable cost?
