Title: Effect of different combat boots on peak ground reaction forces during walking

Authors: Kamalpreet Sandhu; Moumita Sett Chatterjee; Vineet Srivastava; Madhusudan Pal

Addresses: Department of Product and Industrial Design, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, 144411, India ' Ergonomics and Occupational Physiology Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, 741235, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 147001, India ' Department of Ergonomics, Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, DRDO, Delhi, 110054, India

Abstract: The objective of this study is to compare two combat boots (boot A and boot B). There is no study available in regards to differences in the kinetic responses amongst the Indian population. Ten (n = 10) trained, physically fit, non-smoking healthy male adults from Indian infantry soldiers with normal gait volunteered for the study. Three peak ground reaction forces (GRFs): medial-lateral (Fx), anterior-posterior (Fy) and vertical (Fz) were measured using the Kistler force platform. The heel strike (HS), toe off (TO), thrust (TH), propulsive force (PF) and Braking Force (BF) GRFs parameters were analysed. The significant differences were checked using a statistical analysis. It has been found that Fy was more significant in both the feet (left foot - R²: 95.61% and right foot - R²: 94.62%). The results of the present study indicate that boot B minimised the peak GRFs with the above mentioned parameters except TH.

Keywords: ground reaction forces; GRFs; over-use injuries; marching; military boot; foot prevention.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2023.133570

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2023 Vol.10 No.3, pp.283 - 294

Received: 15 Aug 2022
Accepted: 12 Apr 2023
Published online: 21 Sep 2023 *

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