RELIABILITY OF AN IN-SHOE PRESSURE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM DURING TREADMILL WALKING

We examined the reliability of in-shoe foot pressure measurement using the Pedar in-shoe pressure measurement system for 25 participants wal king at treadmill speeds of 0.89, 1.12, and 1.34 meters/sec, The measu rement system uses EMED insoles, which consist of 99 capacitive sensor s, sampled at 50 Hz, Data were collected for 20 seconds at two separat e times while participants walked at each gait speed. Differences in s ome of the loading variables across speed relative to the total foot a nd across the different anatomical regions were detected, Different an atomical regions of the foot were loaded differently with variations i n walking speed, The results indicated the need to control speed when evaluating loading parameters using in-shoe pressure measurement techn iques, Coefficients of reliability were calculated, Variables such as peak force for the total foot required two steps to achieve a coeffici ent of reliability of 0.98. To achieve excellent reliability (>0.90) i n the peak force, force time integral, peak pressure, and pressure tim e integral across the total foot and the seven regions, a maximum of e ight steps was needed, In general, timing variables, such as the insta nt of peak force and the instant of peak pressure, tended to be the le ast reliable measures.