Studies on design innovation and dynamics of footwear for obese individuals

Abstract

The obese population is constantly increasing worldwide which is a newlinematter of serious concern opined primarily by the medical professionals and newlinefollowed with end-user products designers, technologists and scientific newlinecommunity. The obese individuals are inclined to experience series of foothealth newlineconsequences that are leading to enormous fear and threat and lack of newlineconfidence amongst this specific community. The heaviness of Body Mass newlineIndex is the threatening factor for the development of various health problems newlineassociated with foot. It is also observed that footwear is an important player of newlineaggravating the foot related consequences especially for obese people. The newlinefootwear of inappropriate match of foot characteristics would develop newlinediscomfort for the beneficiaries. Hence, the significance of footwear newlinenecessitates specific attention in order to render foot-comfort solutions and newlineadvantages for the obese individuals in the present scenario. In this study, an newlineattempt has been made to evolve design features on footwear and conduct newlineexperimental analysis on functional dynamics of footwear for obese. In the newlinecurrent research study, the external design configurations with different newlineangles especially on the heel regions of footwear would be developed and newlinetheir efficacies with respect to design angles over the energy absorption, load newlinedissipation, ground reaction forces would be scientifically analysed to newlineascertain the optimum footwear for the beneficiaries. newlineInitially, data on foot morphological characteristics of obese newlineindividuals are collected for statistical analysis. The Pearson Correlation newlineanalysis revealed the Body Mass Index, fitting girth and ankle girth possess newlinesignificant linear relationship with positive correlation. There is no much newlinesignificance found between body mass index and length of foot. newline