Clinical assessment of dynamic coefficient of friction effects in shoe-sole trituration of patients with drop foot

Abstract

The aim of this study was examining the effect of human factors such as plantar friction, contact period time, and impulse on shoe-sole trituration of drop foot patients. Twenty-five patients with drop foot and twenty normal subjects were recruited in the study. The force plate and its related software's recorded human factor (coefficient of friction, ground reaction force, time of stance phase) as time dependent parameters. Dynamic coefficient of friction patterns were categorized based on their magnitude versus time when the longitudinal axis of the sole was plotted as the Y-Axis and the transverse axis of the sole as X-Axis during stance phase. The result of this research indicated that the average coefficient of friction among drop foot patients is 77.53 % (p value<0.05) lower than the normal subjects. Also the time of stance phase among drop foot patients is 7.56 % (p value<0.05) greater than normal subjects. There is no difference in the peaks, of vertical ground reaction force between normal and control group. The findings of this research revealed that the time of stance phase has a key role in shoe-sole trituration of patients with drop foot. © Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine 2012.