Step forward in specialist footwear

AN INNOVATIVE system developed by a Dundee University team, who featured on national television, could revolutionise the design of specialist footwear for people with a range of conditions.

Using advanced video techniques to capture measurements of the foot in motion, a team at the university’s Institute of Motion Analysis and Research (IMAR) have found it is possible to build a frame-by-frame reconstruction of the shape of the foot as it changes throughout each step.

By identifying pressure points and areas where the foot needs support, the system will allow the development of more precise and better-shaped insoles and shoes for patients who need custom footwear.

The revolutionary new research pushed the IMAR team into the national spotlight after they were featured on the BBC4 programme Dissected: the Incredible Human Foot.

Professor Rami Abboud, head of the department of orthopaedic and trauma surgery in the School of Medicine at Dundee and director of IMAR, said: “The foot provides a crucial contribution to our balance and stability and for patients who have problems with their gait it is vital that we are able to provide them with footwear that offers the best possible support.

“What we h ave developed, in collaboration with Professor Emanuele Trucco of the School of Computing at Dundee, is the first system of its kind, based around a dynamic foot modelling which shows how the shape and behaviour of the foot changes throughout a whole step.

“As you move through a whole step, the shape and structure of the foot change and different pressure points are applied.

“Fo r people

with problems with their gait, we can identify exactly where they are having issues and then design supporting footwear which will hopefully help ease their problem.”

The system developed by the IMAR team uses a video camera and LCD projector, embedded in a pit in a dedicated walkway.

As the patient walks over the pit, the motion of their foot is captured in full, producing a set of images.

The shape and behaviour of a foot captured in motion.

“Bonnie Dundee”.