Running Speed Affected Maximum Pressure on the Foot Comparing With or Without Shoes

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if footsole pressure distribution were affected by speeds comparing running with and without shoes. Methods: Five male college students were recruited as participants. The participants were asked to run at 3.4 and 5.4m/s with or without shoes on a treadmill. PEDAR dynamic in-shoe pressure system (Novel GumbH, Munich, Germany) was used to measure plantar pressure distribution for 10 sec during each shoe / speed condition. Maximal peak pressures (MPP) were calculated by PEDAR X software for each runner at each condition in eight different footsole regions. The eight regions were divided as lateral and medial toe (LT & MT), forefoot (LF&MF), mid-foot (LMF&MMF), and heel (LH&MH). Paired t-tests were used to compare differential MPP (without shoe - with shoe) between low and high speeds for each of the eight regions. Results: Differential MPP (without - with shoe condition) for speed 3.4 m/s at the LT, MT, LF, MF, LMF, MMF, LH and MH regions were (Mean±standard error of the mean) 110±72, 193±104, 236±40, 233±36, 164±46, 39±25, 13±119, and -10±121, where for speed 5.4 m/s were 133±75, 182±118, 228±21, 217±64, 195±54, 66±29, -179±112, and -196±111. The speed induced differences at the heels (LH and MH), from 13 and -10 to -179 and -196, respectively, were significant (p1.2). Conclusions: Footsole pressure distributions were different between running with and without shoes. These differences were more pronounced with faster speed, which was exemplified by avoiding high pressure at the heel regions with greater speed when running without shoes