Measurement device of foot gripping force during Functional Reach Test

Abstract

We proposed a measurement device of 3-axis foot gripping force during Functional Reach Test (FRT). 3-axis force sensors were embedded in a shoe insole under foot fingers. These force sensors were so thin and light weight that the insole with the force sensors could be inserted into a shoe in our measurement experiments. The vertical force while standing and shear force while pulling by foot fingers were measured to compare our measurement device with other measurement devices. From this comparing experiment, it showed that the outputs between our proposed device and other device had 22% difference about vertical force and 17% difference about shear force. The 3-axis foot gripping force during FRT was measured by our proposed device. From the results, it observed that large vertical force was applied to first finger. It also observed that there was difference between shear force applied to first finger and other fingers. These results mean that our proposed device is useful for measuring 3-axis foot gripping force during FRT.