Background: Shoes is the first point of
contact between the foot and the ground in walking.Any change in that could affect
the balance and postural stability. The risks associated with slipping and
falling is related to the materials of footwear, surface condition, and
geometric design of the shoe sole. The aim of this study was to measure the
effect of different shoe sole tread groove depths on the stability during
walking on dry and slippery surfaces.
Methods: In this semi-experimental study,
22 healthy young men with average age 24.5±3.43 years wore the oxford standard shoe and walked on
two different surfaces (dry and slippery) with three different groove depths
(1, 2.5 and 5 mm). In fact, there were six different test conditions. Data was
collected by the VICON Motion Analysis system and Force plate set. The Paired
T-test was performed to study the effects of groove depth and surface
contamination on the Coefficient of Friction (COF) and Fluctuations Rate
of Ankle (FRA).
Results: The results showed that on
slippery and dry surfaces, increase in groove depths leads to increase of COF
and decrease of FRA (p<0.05). Also values of COF on slippery surface were
less than dry surface significantly (p<0.01).
Conclusion: The aim of this study was to
find the groove depth which has the optimal stability. In our study, the
deepest groove (5 mm) was better for reduction of FRA and increase of COF
during walking on slippery and dry surfaces.
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