Plantar pressure measurements for the evaluation of shoe comfort, overuse injuries and performance in soccer

Abstract

Soccer has become the most popular sport across the globe. Players would agree that footwear has a large influence on the game of soccer. Shoe traction properties determine the speed of the game, and various shoe stud configurations are optimised for wet and dry ground conditions. Questionnaires show that comfort is the most desirable shoe feature that soccer players want from their shoes. Better comfort is strongly associated with a reduction of high pressures under the foot. During running, sprinting and cut movements large differences in plantar pressure patterns are present. These different loading patterns may explain some of the overuse injuries in soccer. The type of footwear also modifies in-shoe pressures substantially. This knowledge is not only important for improving foot comfort and injury prevention but can also explain performance differences between various shoe constructions. Even the influence of shoe design on the kicking accuracy can be analysed by pressure distribution measurements. Overall, pressure measuring devices can be considered the most important tool for the evaluation and design of shoes for better comfort, enhanced performance and the prevention of overuse injuries.

Keywords:

• football
• soccer
• footwear
• pressure distribution
• comfort
• kicking accuracy
• injury prevention
• performance enhancement

Acknowledgements

Parts of this research were supported by Nike® Inc., USA and Pelé Sports, Switzerland.