Table 3.
Differences in balance and gait patterns between the footwear conditions
| Flexible footwear | Own footwear | Prototype footwear | P valuee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance | ||||
| Postural sway velocity, °/secc | 0.53 (0.19) | 0.60 (0.26) | 0.57 (0.21) | 0.096 |
| Limits of stability test | ||||
| Maximum excursion (% LOS)b | 70.3 (15.6) | 69.9 (17.4) | 71.5 (15.7) | 0.594 |
| Directional control (%)d | 57.4 (15.5) | 54.0 (17.2) | 55.1 (15.3) | 0.206 |
| Tandem walk test | ||||
| Speed, cm/secd | 17.8 (8.7) | 19.4 (10.0) | 18.3 (10.6) | 0.086 |
| Step width, cmc | 11.6 (5.7) | 10.2 (6.2) | 7.4 (3.1)a,b | 0.001 |
| End sway, °/secc | 5.9 (3.4) | 4.9 (2.0) | 4.1 (2.0)a,b | 0.009 |
| Gait patterns | ||||
| Walking speed, cm/secd | 107.4 (18.1) | 109.5 (19.2) | 108.0 (17.8) | 0.204 |
| Cadence, steps/minc | 110.8 (10.1) | 112.0 (11.2) | 111.1 (10.2) | 0.173 |
| Step length, cmd | 58.0 (7.1) | 58.5 (7.2) | 58.2 (6.8) | 0.544 |
| Step width, cmc | 59.1 (6.6) | 59.6 (7.0) | 59.4 (6.6) | 0.303 |
Values are mean (SD)
asignificantly different to flexible shoe
bsignificantly different to own shoes
LOS limits of stability
clower scores represent better performance
dhigher scores represent better performance
e P value for main effect of one-way ANOVA