First Advisor

Heise, Gary D.

First Committee Member

Ferris, Abbie

Degree Name

Master of Science

Document Type

Thesis

Date Created

12-2025

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Kinesiology Nutrition and Dietetics, KiND Student Work

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the loading rates of shod and unshod conditions in treadmill walking. It was hypothesized that walking barefoot would demonstrate higher loading rates than walking with shoes. It was also hypothesized that walking barefoot on a treadmill would result in greater stride-to-stride variability than walking with shoes. Sixteen healthy adult females volunteered and provided their consent to participate in this study. Participants were given time to accommodate to the instrumented treadmill both while wearing shoes and without. Two 10-minute trials were collected with a rest period between. Data were analyzed using Vicon Nexus and MatLab and loading rates were extracted for more than 50 strides for each trial. Wearing shoes yielded 33% lower loading rate than walking barefoot. Walking barefoot displayed significantly more variance between strides than walking with shoes. Both hypotheses were supported. When shod, the cushioning of the shoe significantly reduced the loading rate experienced by the lower extremity contacting the ground. When unshod, the increased stride-to-stride variability may be due to the novelty of walking on a split-belt treadmill and the discomfort of the contact foot passing over the rollers.

Abstract Format

html

Disciplines

Biomechanics

Keywords

gait; shod; unshod; treadmill; walking; force; emg; motion capture

Language

English

Extent

87 pages

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author

Digital Origin

Born digital

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Biomechanics Commons

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