Measurement of Pressure Distribution of Shoe Sole During Walking and its Relation to Slippage Available to Purchase

Every year, many people are injured by slipping and falling accidents when walking. Clarification of the mechanism of slipping and falling may provide insight into possible solutions. The purpose of this study was to reveal the behavior of the shoe sole contact during walking by measuring both contact pressure distribution and the slippage of shoe sole blocks. A force plate with a walkway made of glass was produced to observe the contact area between the walkway and the shoe sole. The total internal reflection of light was used to distinguish the contact area and noncontact area of the shoe sole. The slippage of the shoe sole was measured by time-sequence position variations of each block. As a result, a large traction coefficient and a large slippage of the shoe sole block were found to occur immediately after the heel strike. Slippage was also detected at the period of toe off. Moreover, the maximum contact pressure of each block varied from 1.0MPa to 3.0MPa in the contact area.