The effect of recovery sandals on lower limb muscle activity during gait

Abstract

Recovery sandals have been developed to enhance recovery from fatigue after sports. However, the previous studies suggested the sandals were alter lower extremity kinematics and increase muscle activity during gait. The recovery sandals may be increased muscle activity as well as the sandals. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the recovery sandals on lower limb muscle activity during gait. Three men walked barefoot, with the recovery sandals and their own athletic shoes. The kinematic, kinetic and electromyography (EMG) data were input to a musculoskeletal model to estimate muscle force. As the results, the lower extremity joint kinematics altered with the recovery sandals, but the ground reaction forces showed no difference. In the stance phase, the peak muscle force reduced with the recovery sandals in all subjects. These results suggested the recovery sandals could reduce muscle forces during gait.