Instrumented Footwear Inserts: A New Tool for Measuring Forces and Biomechanical State Changes During Dynamic Movements

Lower-limb musculoskeletal injuries are apervasive problem in the population and military, especiallyduring basic training where load bearing bones and joints arerepeatedly subjected to aggressive movements and high forces.The ability to measure these elements during training would be acritical enabler for prevention of injury and development ofmore quantitative training procedures that focus on ambulatorymobility and agility. It has been inherently difficult to acquirethis data outside of the laboratory in a robust and repeatableway. Herein, we report the construction and testing of ameasurement system packaged within a shoe insert that iscapable of measuring forces, accelerations, rotations andelevation changes. The ability to take these measurements in amobile system facilitates new environments to monitor complexbiomechanical actions without compromising natural gaitrhythms. This can result in new methods for monitoring potentialchanges to gait and also help with rehabilitation strategies. Body Sensor Network Conference , 09 May 2017, 09 May 2017,