Article

Shoes have a beneficial function in physical performance, particularly for gait. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of shoe fit with
gait parameters in community-dwelling older people. The fit of habitual shoes
(HS) was evaluated in healthy older subjects and subjects were classified into
well-fit (n=48) and poorly-fit (n=37) groups. The sizes of their feet were
measured using an optical laser scanning system to provide newly-fitted shoes
(NFS). Gait experiments were performed while wearing HS and NFS, separately.
Trunk linear accelerations were measured along the vertical, anteroposterior and
mediolateral axes using a tri-axial accelerometer attached to the L3 spinous
process. Measurements were sampled at 200-Hz during a 20-m gait task at a
self-selected speed. After signal processing, the gait velocity, stride duration,
stride length and gait regularity (Reg) were obtained. Among the poorly-fit
group, 86% wore shoes that were too loose. Subjects wearing ill-fitting shoes had
a tendency to walk slower, had shorter stride lengths and lower Reg in the
vertical direction than those wearing well-fitting shoes. Whereas NFS increased
the gait velocity, the stride length and the Reg in the vertical direction, the
increases in subjects that previously wore ill-fitting HS was significantly
greater than in subjects that originally wore well-fitting HS. In conclusion, our
study indicates that a significant proportion of older adults wear ill-fitting
shoes and that well-fitting shoes are important to improve gait performance.
CI - Crown Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS