Shoe Drop and its effects on the shoe itself

An interesting, free, full text article we ran across entitled: “THE EFFECT OF WALKING IN FOOTWEAR WITH VARYING HEELSOLE DIFFERENTIALS ON SHANK & FOOT SEGMENT KINEMATICS”

Not exactly a page turner but some important pearls to glean here.

CONCLUSION: During 0-50% gait cycle stance phase shank kinematics do not change with changes in Heel Sole Differential. Actual foot angles do change, increasing with increasing Heel Sole Differential of footwear and by the angle of pitch of the footwear.

In other words, the kinematics (read: flex and physical characteristics) of the shank (the platform that the shoe is built on) do not change with increased ramp delta (ie: “drop”, from heel to toe), but foot kinematics (ie: how the foot moves) DOES change.

http://www.oandp.org/publications/jop/2016/2016-020.pdf