Footwear Force Sensor Biomechanical Transition Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Transitioning from traditional to minimal footwear poses a risk of injuries due to inadequate alteration of leg and foot biomechanics, as users often fail to adapt to the new footstrike pattern, leading to poor transitioning and increased injury likelihood.
Innovation Solution
A system with force sensors in the footwear that collects data on footstrike patterns and compares them to a desired template, providing real-time feedback to the user through visual, audible, or tactile indications to help adjust their footstrike, and a customizable program based on user type and terrain to facilitate safe transition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If users transition directly from traditional footwear to minimal footwear without proper preparation, then they can immediately use the new footwear type, but they are more prone to injuries due to inadequate alteration of leg and foot biomechanics
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a transitional program that requires users to progressively adapt their footstrike pattern before fully using minimal footwear. Force sensors detect heel strike patterns and provide feedback to guide users through gradual biomechanical adaptation, preventing injuries by preparing the body in advance for the footwear transition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses force sensors to detect footstrike patterns and provides real-time feedback to users about their biomechanical form. This feedback mechanism guides users through the transitional program by indicating when proper form is achieved, enabling safe progression from traditional to minimal footwear use.
2Ease of operation
If users maintain traditional heel footstrike pattern in minimal footwear, then they can continue their usual running form, but they fail to adapt to the preferred midfoot or forefoot strike pattern required for minimal footwear
Solution Approach 1:
Force sensors detect whether the user is heel striking or midfoot/forefoot striking, and provide real-time feedback to guide form correction. The system monitors biomechanical parameters and communicates effectiveness of form changes, enabling users to successfully adapt to minimal footwear strike patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual biomechanical analysis with automated force sensing technology. Force sensors objectively measure footstrike patterns and provide data-driven feedback, eliminating the need for users to self-assess their form and enabling more precise guidance through the transition process.
3Reliability
If the system provides detailed real-time feedback on footstrike pattern, then users can properly adapt their biomechanics, but the system complexity increases with multiple sensors and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the critical biomechanical parameter (heel strike detection) from complex gait analysis and focuses feedback on this single key indicator. By concentrating on the most important form correction (eliminating heel strike), the system achieves effective biomechanical adaptation without requiring analysis of all movement parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The force sensors serve multiple functions: detecting heel strike events, measuring impact forces, tracking progression over time, and providing feedback signals. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized sensors for each measurement task, simplifying the overall system while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively helps users adapt to the minimal footstrike pattern by providing immediate feedback and adjusting the transitional program based on user data, reducing the risk of injuries during the transition from traditional to minimal footwear.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor system with a plurality of force sensors engaged with the article of footwear and configured to sense force exerted by a user's foot
Data Source
AI summary
A system for transitioning from a first footwear type to a second footwear type is usable with an article of footwear including a sensor system with a plurality of force sensors engaged with an article of footwear and configured to sense force exerted by a foot of a user and an electronic module configured to collect data based on force input from the sensors and to wirelessly transmit data generated by the sensor system. An electronic device includes a processor that receives the data from the electronic module, compares the data to a footstrike template corresponding to a desired footstrike pattern of a footwear transitional program, determines whether a deviation from the footstrike template exists, and generates an indication to the user when the deviation from the desired footstrike pattern is determined to exist. The desired footstrike pattern corresponds to a preferred footstrike of the second type of footwear.