Title: The effect of high-heeled shoe design on lower extremity kinetics, kinematics, and electromyography

Authors: Moataz Eltoukhy; Deger Ozkaramanli; Shihab Asfour

Addresses: College of Engineering, University of Miami, 1251 Memorial Drive, McArthur Engineering Building, Room 156, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, USA. ' Industrial Design Engineering, ID-Studio Lab, Delft University of Technology, The Hague, Netherland. ' College of Engineering, University of Miami, 1251 Memorial Drive, McArthur Engineering Building, Room 268, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, USA

Abstract: Many studies have investigated the differences in gait patterns with increasing heel height. The purpose of this study was to study the differences in gait patterns when wearing two high-heeled shoes (9 cm) deigns versus barefoot. Changes in lower extremity kinetics, kinematics and integrated electromyography (IEMG) were explored on 15 female college students (19-31 years). Increased vertical ground reaction forces during both early and late stance were recorded when wearing high-heeled shoes. Also, an increase in the IEMG values of soleus and lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscles were noted during stance, while medial head of the gastrocnemius EMG values decreased in both types of high-heeled shoes. IEMG of tibialis anterior was also decreased throughout swing phase due to more plantar flexed foot position.

Keywords: gait analysis; biomechanics; high-heeled shoes; electromyography; ergonomics; high heels; shoe design; lower extremity kinetics; lower extremity kinematics; lower extremity EMG; barefoot; foot positions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2012.048033

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2012 Vol.1 No.2, pp.181 - 203

Published online: 06 Aug 2014 *

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