The relationship between maximum plantar pressures and anterior-posterior shear during walking

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between anterior-posterior shear and maximum plantar pressure during normal walking. Thirty subjects, 20 women and 10 men, participated in this study. An AMTI force plate (Advanced Mechanical Technology, Inc., Newton, MA) and an EMED-SF pressure platform (Novel Electronics, Novel GmbH, Munich, Germany), located at the midpoint of a 12-m walkway, were used to collect ground reaction force and plantar pressure data during walking. The results of a multiple regression analysis showed that anterior-posterior shear at the time of maximum plantar pressure can be predicted using a combination of peak force, time to peak pressure, and stance duration time (R = .770). This information may be useful in a clinical setting, where estimates of anterior-posterior shear at the time of maximum plantar pressure are desirable but the equipment is not available.