The utilization of a foot weight analyzer has turned into an inexorably normal device for both orthotics experts and the normal individual alike. Indeed, numerous wellbeing stores have a fundamental weight analyzer that anybody can use to get a general thought of what sort of off-the-rack orthotics would be best for them. Numerous individuals are astounded find how much data a this kind of machine can give just while somebody is remaining on it. Actually, there are three key tests which ought to be directed as they will extraordinarily influence what kind of orthotic will give the best outcomes.

                                 


1. The Foot Pressure Test 


The main sort of test is an essential weight test. A quality foot weight analyzer will have the capacity to give four key snippets of data from this test. The first is the normal for weight dissemination. This tells individuals how their body weight is circulated over their feet when they are in the ordinary standing position. Moreover, the foot weight test ought to have the capacity to distinguish what sort of foot a man has (level, typical, high) and in addition recognize any pinnacle focuses. At last, a foot weight test ought to have the capacity to give a weight conveyance maps which advises individuals what their fore foot to raise foot weight proportion is.

2. Stride Analysis 


The following kind of tests a foot weight analyzer can run is a walk investigation. A step investigation will give three key snippets of data including the COP line amid strolling, outline examination, and stride cycle examination. This data is basic in light of the fact that an off base or wobbly walk can cause remarkably unequal body act and additionally unending torment. This data is assembled by breaking down the step time, walk edge, and focus of weight development.

3. Vestibular Test 


The last test a foot weight analyzer ought to give is the vestibular test. This test is intended to recognize any variations from the norm vestibular capacities which could possibly prompt postural discombobulation, sudden falls, and continuous cerebral pains. These tests break down the focal point of gravity in somebody's development both when their eyes are open and shut. It uses five levels of assessments dependent on sex, age, and tallness. The consequences of this test are frequently scores in indistinguishable way from a Romberg's test. The Romberg's test is utilized by specialists in neurological examinations. It depends on the introduce that a man requires no less than two of the three after faculties to keep up equalization while standing - proprioception, vestibular capacity, and vision.

What Benefits Do Foot Pressure Analyzer Tests Provide?

It might appear to be pointless to assemble such a great amount of data about how you stand and walk, anyway these tests are instrumental in helping you distinguish regardless of whether the manner in which you normally stand or walk is unfavorably influencing your body. As a rule, custom orthotics can without much of a stretch be outlined dependent on these test outcomes. Custom orthotics are progressively well known for individuals experiencing foot torment, knee/back agony, individuals with diabetes/joint inflammation, and the individuals who just need or need greatest solace to adapt to the thorough directions on their feet amid some random day.

FOOT PRESSURE MAPPING SENSORS

PPS’s Foot Pressure Mapping System uses sensors to measure and analyze pressure distribution on a person’s foot for research and product development applications.
The Foot Pressure Mapping System was designed for footwear or orthotic designers, researchers in gait analysis, diabetic foot complications, or other disciplines interested in the pressure distribution on the foot.  The pressure sensor system can measure and analyze pressure distribution on between a person’s foot and a shoe during any sort of stationary or ambulatory action in real-world conditions.  PPS’s Foot Pressure Mapping System captures and visualizes quantitative, sensitive pressure data in real time over a wireless interface for minimally-invasive measurements in real-world conditions.  Flexible, sensitive sensor integrates easily with footwear and provides industry-leading, quantitative data with excellent repeatability and sensitivity.
The Foot Pressure Measurement System includes a pair of reversible sensors (Men Size 10) that can be used with either foot and a rechargeable electronics interface module with Bluetooth connectivity.  The system connects to a computer and includes PPS’s Chameleon image capture and analysis software.  This industry-leading software is fully featured which means it can export replay, save test data, and perform analysis functions.  Chameleon can also record and playback video with your data results for even greater insight and analysis.

KEY SYSTEM FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

  • Highly sensitive and repeatable tactile sensors featuring 25 sensing elements to provide most sensitive and repeatable data available for accurate research and optimized product design.
  • Flexible design integrates easily into footwear or existing insole material allowing data capture without artificially modifying the natural actions of the test subject.
  • Compact wireless Bluetooth electronics provides simple and easy to use set up with minimal wires to encumber use.
  • High performance capacitive sensing technology saves time and improves results by significantly reducing recalibration and repeated tests allowing developers to resolve problems and answer questions faster. Twice the repeatability, 5x better minimum pressure detection, and 50% better pressure sensing resolution compared to typical resistive tactile sensor technologies.
  • Chameleon Visualization Software provides intuitive, easy to use, high-quality visualization, and easy access to data for analysis and export to other applications. The software is fully featured which means export, replay, save, and analysis functions are included with every system, unlike competitors who require a paid upgrade for these features. 

  • Abstract

    Foot plantar pressure is the pressure field that acts between the foot and the support surface during everyday locomotor activities. Information derived from such pressure measures is important in gait and posture research for diagnosing lower limb problems, footwear design, sport biomechanics, injury prevention and other applications. This paper reviews foot plantar sensors characteristics as reported in the literature in addition to foot plantar pressure measurement systems applied to a variety of research problems. Strengths and limitations of current systems are discussed and a wireless foot plantar pressure system is proposed suitable for measuring high pressure distributions under the foot with high accuracy and reliability. The novel system is based on highly linear pressure sensors with no hysteresis.

  • 1. Introduction

    The development of miniature, lightweight, and energy efficient circuit solutions for healthcare sensor applications is an increasingly important research focus given the rapid technological advances in healthcare monitoring equipment, microfabrication processes and wireless communication. One area that has attracted considerable attention by researchers in biomedical and sport related applications is the analysis of foot plantar pressure distributions to reveal the interface pressure between the foot plantar surface and the shoe sole. Typical applications are footwear design [1], sports performance analysis and injury prevention [2], improvement in balance control [3], and diagnosing disease [4]. More recently innovative applications have also been made to human identification [5], biometric [6], monitoring posture allocation [7] and rehabilitation support systems [8–10]. Based on this research it is clear that techniques capable of accurately and efficiently measuring foot pressure are crucial to further developments.
    The plantar pressure systems available on the market or in research laboratories vary in sensor configuration to meet different application requirements. Typically the configuration is one of three types: pressure distribution platforms, imaging technologies with sophisticated image processing software and in-shoe systems. In designing plantar pressure measurement devices the key requirements are spatial resolution, sampling frequency, accuracy, sensitivity and calibration []. These requirements will be discussed in detail later.
    In-shoe foot plantar sensors have paved the way to better efficiency, flexibility, mobility and reduced cost measurement systems. For the system to be mobile and wearable for monitoring activities of daily life, the system should be wireless with low power consumption. Wireless in-shoe foot plantar measurement systems have potential application to data transfer communication systems, miniaturized biomedical sensors and other uses. For compact, low cost devices for short-range wireless applications an on-chip antenna is a practical solution. On-chip antenna implementation is feasible with the assistance of rapid scaling of low cost complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The feasibility of creating circuits and systems to operate at lower frequency bands and subsequently reducing the antenna size using on-chip antennas has been discussed [,13].
    This review will first summarize the existing methods for measuring foot plantar pressure and the advantages and disadvantages of a range of commercial pressure sensors used in published research. Subsequently, the discussion will introduce a micro-electromechanical (MEMS) pressure sensor that has considerably enhanced performance characteristics. Finally various solutions presented by researchers to measure foot plantar pressure using in-shoe system will be reviewed. The review critically examines the devices used in measuring systems, such as sensors, processing units and wireless transmitters. The paper compares the compactness, power consumption, number of sensors and placements of sensors used in published systems and we propose a new system, the MEMS sensor. The MEMS sensor will interface with a wireless data acquisition (DAQ) unit, which is a full-custom design using CMOS technology. This novel solution will be on a single chip making it highly compact and low in power consumption.
    The paper is divided into eight sections. Section 2 presents the requirements for plantar pressure measurement systems. The foot plantar pressure measurement environment will be discussed in Section 3. Section 4 will describe the application requirements of foot plantar sensors. Section 5 documents the commercial foot plantar pressure measurement sensors in detail. The wireless foot plantar pressure systems will be reviewed in Section 6. Section 7 presents our proposed new approach to recording foot plantar pressure and the system's design. Finally, Section 8 discusses the suitability of the proposed system and conclusions.

    2. Needs for Plantar Pressure Measurement

    Feet provide the primary surface of interaction with the environment during locomotion. Thus, it is important to diagnose foot problems at an early stage for injury prevention, risk management and general wellbeing. One approach to measuring foot health, widely used in various applications, is examining foot plantar pressure characteristics. It is, therefore, important that accurate and reliable foot plantar pressure measurement systems are developed. One of the earliest applications of plantar pressure was the evaluation of footwear. Lavery et al. [14] in 1997 determined the effectiveness of therapeutic and athletic shoes with and without viscoelastic insoles using the mean peak plantar pressure as the evaluation parameter. Since then there have been many other studies of foot pressure measurement; for example, Mueller [15] applied plantar pressure to the design of footwear for people without impairments (i.e., the general public). Furthermore, Praet and Louwerens [16] and Queen et al. [17] found that the most effective method for reducing the pressure beneath a neuropathic forefoot is using rocker bottom shoes and claimed the rocker would decrease pressure under the first and fifth ray (metatarsal head). The metatarsal heads are often the site of ulceration in patients with cavovarus deformity. Queen et al. indicated that future shoe design for the prevention of metatarsal stress fractures should be gender specific due to differences in plantar loading between men and women.
    With regard to applications involving disease diagnosis, many researchers have focused on foot ulceration problems due to diabetes that can result in excessive foot plantar pressures in specific areas under the foot. It is estimated that diabetes mellitus accounts for over $1 billion per year in medical expenses in the United States alone [18]. Diabetes is now considered an epidemic and, according to some reports, the number of affected patients is expected to increase from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030 [19]. Improvement in balance is considered important both in sports and biomedical applications. Notable applications in sport are soccer balance training [20] and forefoot loading during running [21]. With respect to healthcare, pressure distributions can be related to gait instability in the elderly and other balance impaired individuals and foot plantar pressure information can be used for improving balance in the elderly [22]. Based on the above discussion, it is crucial to devise techniques capable of accurately and efficiently measuring foot pressure.

    3. Foot Plantar Pressure Measurement Environments

    There are a variety of plantar pressure measurement systems but in general they can be classified into one of two types: platform systems and in-shoe systems.

    3.1. Platform Systems

    Platform systems are constructed from a flat, rigid array of pressure sensing elements arranged in a matrix configuration and embedded in the floor to allow normal gait. Platform systems can be used for both static and dynamic studies but are generally restricted to research laboratories. One advantage is that a platform is easy to use because it is stationary and flat but has the disadvantage that the patient requires familiarization to ensure natural gait. Furthermore, it is important for the foot to contact the centre of the sensing area for an accurate reading [23]. Limitations include: space, indoor measurement, and patient's ability to make contact with the platform, Figures 1 and ​and22 show a platform-based sensor [24,25].