1. The Engineering Components to Making Shoes
Shoes Under Pressure
The Engineering Components to Making Shoes

2. Objectives: Describe how force and pressure are related.
Calculate force, pressure, impact force and impulse.
Identify the different parts of the walking gait.
Explain how pressures on different parts of the foot increase and decrease while walking or running.
Explain the difference between over pronation and under pronation, and how to fix the misalignments with orthotics.

3. Why…. Of the many different types of engineers, some design shoes!
Walking and running are both complex series of movements, shoes are designed to provide support to specific foot areas to prevent injury.
Shoes must withstand a multitude of forces, pressures and impacts on a daily basis and for the life of the shoe.
Designing a heeled shoe produces a different set of challenges from an athletic shoe, both for the designer and the wearer.
High-heeled designs feature a storable heel to help alleviate the problems associated with high heels, including driving and long-term discomfort leading to injury.

4. Pre-Lesson Assessment
Complete Force and Pressure Quiz

5. Vocabulary/Definitions
force:
Pushes or pulls; anything that causes an object to accelerate or change direction.
impulse:
Average force x change in time or change in momentum. A measure of how "hard" a shoe hits the ground.
orthotic:
An insert placed inside a shoe to correct either overpronation or supination.
Over pronation:
Excessive rolling inward movement of the foot when walking or running. Predisposes lower extremity injuries (such as knee injuries). Causes heavier wear on shoes on the inner margin. Collapsing arches while walking.

6. Vocabulary pressure: Force per area. stiletto heel:
Vocabulary/Definitions
Vocabulary
pressure:
Force per area.
stiletto heel:
A very high heel on a woman's shoe, tapering to a very narrow tip. Also called a spike heel.
supination:
A rotation of the foot and leg in which the foot rolls outward with an elevated arch so that in walking the foot tends to come down on its outer edge. Leads to shoes wearing on the outer edge, and knee injuries. High arches. The opposite of pronation. Same as under pronation.

7. Force Force is anything that causes an object to undergo acceleration.
Gravity exerts a downwards force on a shoe and the ground exerts an upwards force on a shoe. When standing, these forces are equal and opposite, causing the person not to move.
A scale measures a person's weight. The force s/he exerts on the ground can be calculated using Newton's second law.
F = m * a
F = force (Newtons)
m = mass (kilograms)
a = acceleration (meters/second2) [gravity, in our case]

8. Force
Pushing off the ground while walking, s/he exerts a force upwards on the shoe greater than the downward force of gravity so the shoe (and foot) accelerate upwards to start the step.
Foot hits the ground, the ground exerts an upward force on the foot, causing it to decelerate to a stop as the foot hits the ground.
The faster the foot comes to a stop, the larger the deceleration and the larger the impact force.
Running on sand, the deceleration is significantly less than when running on concrete, so the impact force that the foot feels every step is less for sand than for concrete.

9. Pressure Pressure is the force per area applied to an object. P = F/A
P = pressure (Pascals)
F = force perpendicular to the area (Newtons)
A = area (square meters)

10. Pressure
The same force applied over a small area creates a higher pressure than if it were applied over a large area.
For example, the pressure caused by the force of a person applied over the sole of an entire shoe is much less than the pressure due to the force of a person applied over the area of a stiletto heel.
If a large force is applied to an area, it creates a greater pressure than if a small force is applied over the same area. Thus, when a heavier person walks, s/he exerts a greater pressure on the ground than a smaller person with the same shoe size and shape.

11. Impulse
Impulse is defined as change in momentum of an object or the integral of force with respect to time.
I = m Δv = F Δt
I = impulse (Newton x second)
m = mass (kilograms)
dv = change in velocity (meters per second)
F = force (Newton)
dt = change in time (seconds)

12. Impulse
Impulse is the common physical measure of how hard the foot hits the ground.
Using the above set of equations, the force felt by the foot can be calculated by knowing how fast the foot hits the ground and making an estimation of how long it takes the foot to decelerate from that velocity.
A softer surface causes the deceleration to take longer than a hard surface, meaning that a foot feels a greater force landing on a hard surface than a soft one.

13. Basic Foot Anatomy Made of 26 bones and 100 muscles and tendons.
Divided into three different parts:
the forefoot, which is compromised of the toes and the ball of the foot
the midfoot, which is made up of the arch
the rearfoot, which consists of the heel.
Major tendon is the plantar fasciitis: stretches from the ball of the foot to the heel.
When the foot first impacts the ground during the stride, the plantar fascitis acts as a shock absorber and then tightens during the take-off phase of the stride, causing the foot to act as a lever.

14. Walking Mechanics Walking gait is divided into two parts:
the stance phase: when the foot is on the ground
when the foot is in the air.
On average, the foot spends 60% of the time in the stance phase with each full cycle of a step taking approximately one second.

15. Walking Mechanics The stance phase is divided three distinct sections:
Heel strike: the outside of the heel hits the ground first and the foot begins to pronate inwards, the arch of the foot drops and the ankle turns inward, the outside of the heel impacts first, the outer edge of the heel of a shoe tends to wear faster than the rest of the shoe. This is the part of the gait when the foot experiences the highest impact forces and pressures.
Midstance: weight is evenly distributed over the foot, the plantar fascitis acts as a shock absorber. The foot is maximally pronated during this phase and the pressures experienced by the sole of the foot are at a minimum.
Heel lift: weight is shifted to the ball of the foot and the foot supinates (rotates outwards) as the toes bend, and the plantar fascitis is elongated. This causes the foot to transition from a soft, shock absorber to a rigid lever necessary for propulsion. The pressure under the ball of the foot increases again, but the force is still less than what the heel experiences during the heel strike phase.

16. Walking Energetics
The walking stride can be approximated as a swinging pendulum with both legs straight, like a wheel. In this approximation, the energy used to lift the body each stride is not recovered, leading to the low efficiencies found in walking. Using the natural period of a pendulum, the walking cadence can be approximated as:
T = 2* π [2L / 3g]1/2
T = period (seconds)
L = length of leg (meters)
g = gravity (9.8 meters per second squared)
v = velocity (meters per second)

17. Walking Energetics
Further calculations determine that the power needed to walk can be approximated as:
Pw = (mg / p) [3gL / 2]1/2{1 - [1 – π*2v2 / 6gL]1/2}
P = power (joules)
m = mass (kilograms)
g = gravity (9.8 meters per second squared)
L = length of leg (meters)
v = velocity (meters per second)

18. Running Mechanics
Running is divided into the stance phase and the airborne phase.
40% of the time is spent in the stance phase and each full cycle takes approximately 0.6 seconds.
Two distinct types of runners exist: heel strikers, and midfoot strikers.
More than 80% of the population are heel strikers, meaning that the heel is the first part of the foot to impact the ground during the running gait. The other
20% of the population are midfood strikers; either landing on their midfoot, or even their forefoot, while running. Most top runners fall into the midfoot strikers category.
Unlike walking, the maximum forces felt by the foot are during the lift-off phase rather than the heelstrike phase. This distribution is true regardless of the running surface, but the absolute value of the force varies depending on whether the surface is hard or soft. Because of this, running on a hard surface, such as concrete, creates higher stresses on the foot than running on a soft surface, such as sand or grass.

19. Running Energetics
By making similar assumptions to the walking pendulum approximation, the energetics of running can be calculated. Once again, the legs are considered straight and treated like a wheel, the energy used to flex the leg through the airborne phase is negligible, and the energy used to raise and lower the body each step is not recovered. In addition, the body is propelled forward at a 45° angle each step to maximize the stride length. Using this, the power needed to run can be approximated as:
P = mgv / 4
P = power (joules)
m = mass (kilograms)
g = gravity (9.8 meters per second squared)
v = velocity (meters per second)

20. Heels
Human use of high-heeled shoes can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, with the precursor to the stiletto heel found in tombs dating to 1000 BC. It is believed that they were considered a symbol of social status. Since then, they have become a prominent form of footwear.
High-heeled shoes cause a variety of injuries because they alter the natural alignment of the ankle, knee and hip.
Wearing a high heel shifts a person's center of gravity forward, causing a shortening of the airborne phase of the stride and increasing his/her cadence.
A three-inch heel increases the pressure on the forefoot three to six times, leading to a variety of foot injuries, such as bunions, shortened Achilles tendons, trapped nerves and toe deformities.
Women receive more than 90% of the 800,000 foot surgeries performed each year, many due to their use of high heels.

21. Athletic Shoes
Modern athletic shoes are most commonly constructed with the padding paradigm, meaning that they are designed with 22 mm of padding under the heel, and 12 mm under the forefoot.
This configuration favors heel-to-toe runners.
Recently, some shoe manufacturers have moved away from heavily-padded shoes, following the trend of barefoot running, which is believed to promote forefoot striking running and prevent many common running injuries.

22. Gait Misalignments
Over pronation, or flat feet, is one of the most common gait misalignments
occurs when the foot pronates too far inwards during the midstride of the stance phase
due to the arches of the foot collapsing too far.
May be caused by genetic factors that lead to flexible feet, overuse, or improperly fit shoes.
Overpronation can lead to knee, ankle and hip problems, as well as plantar fascitis, bunions, tendonitis, and heel spurs.
It can be corrected by orthotics that provide additional support under the arch.

23. Gait Misalignments
Underpronation, or supination, is the other common gait misalignment. occurs when the arches do not collapse enough during the midstride, causing the foot to roll outwards.
Supination is easily diagnosed by observing excessive wear on the outer edge of a shoe.
Supination can cause all of the problems associated with over pronation and is fixed by adding extra padding to the sole of the shoe.

24. Assignments
Static Forces Worksheet
Kinetic Movement Worksheet