In-shoe pressure analysis

Being able to analyse the pressure exerted by your feet onto your shoes as you stand, walk or run provides our podiatrists with invaluable insight into exactly how forces are translating to the feet and their joints. When complimented by video gait analysis that shows us the mechanics behind your stride, we are able to get a comprehensive picture of how best to direct our treatment to resolve the problem or relieve the pain.

Superior Technology To Help Support Your Feet

The system we use to capture your in-shoe pressure is the ParoMed range, which meets the highest requirements for both precision and comfort. It delivers high measuring accuracy and reproducibility, and combines the measuring technology with 3D movement analysis to deliver a wealth of information about your body.

Another fantastic aspect of this technology is that it captures genuine natural movement. A problem with traditional pressure plates that require a person to stand on a firm plastic sheet, is that standing on it or walking over it, may feel unnatural and staged, therefore subconsciously causing you to walk differently or load your feet in a different way. This technology eliminates that risk, while also painting an accurate picture of how the pressure is reflected in shoes too - as knowing the support that is offered by your shoe and how this affects your loading pattern is also extremely important as your feet, shoes and any orthotics work closely together as a team.

How Shoe Pressure Is Measured

Pressure plates presented as flat insoles packed with sensors are placed in your regular shoes and are connected to the system. As you stand or move on our treadmill, the sensors react to the magnitude of pressure placed on them over the entire foot, and real-time dynamic loading and timing patterns are recorded in our system. It presents this data as graphic charts and images that instantly and easily identify your loading patterns at any point over the recorded time. 

How Does An In-Shoe Pressure Assessment Work?

In-shoe pressure assessments are completed as part of a biomechanical assessment aimed at helping identify the cause of a problem or injury, optimise your movement, or improve your sporting performance. Your assessment starts with your history, goes to a musculoskeletal assessment, and then to your gait analysis and in-shoe pressure analysis. This is when you place the device into your shoes and complete the analysis by walking or running on the treadmill, and also while standing. 

It is the combination of the results over all these assessments that provide us with a full picture so we know which treatment tools to use and how to get the best outcomes for you.

Benefits Of In-Shoe Pressure Analysis

This powerful assessment tool boasts a range of benefits for both patient and podiatrist, including:

1. Understand your physiology

You receive comprehensive data that shows you exactly what your body is doing, how pressure is being transferred and absorbed, and why you’re feeling the symptoms you are or moving the way you are. When you can see and understand why something is happening, as opposed to just focusing on the symptoms, you can make the right changes to help promote your long-term health and reduce your injury risk.

2. Improve foot, knee and back conditions

When we understand how your movement patterns are contributing to the development of your foot, leg or back pain, we use that information to create targeted treatment plans to help you get the best outcomes.

3. Custom orthotics

Custom foot orthotics can adjust the way your feet and legs function through providing support, offloading, and making changes in your foot posture. In-shoe pressure analysis shows us exactly which areas of your feet are being overloaded and where your line of gait deviates from what we’d expect for you, which helps guide how we prescribe your foot orthotics, which features they’ll contain, which materials we should use and various other factors, if orthotics are required as part of your treatment. 

3. Tailored exercises

By helping to identify dysfunctional movement patterns together with your biomechanical assessment, we can also prescribe a precise exercise plan to help optimise your muscle strength, flexibility and function.

4. Compare before and after

We can also use this analysis to measure your foot pressure after treatment or after the prescription of your orthotics compared to before, to see the real-time changes experienced by your feet, and help guide us if your feet need continuing care and management.

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