Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 29;22(23):9300.
doi: 10.3390/s22239300.

Fatigue Effect on Minimal Toe Clearance and Toe Activity during Walking

Yingjie Jin  1 , Yui Sano  1 , Miho Shogenji  2 , Tetsuyou Watanabe  3
Affiliations

Fatigue Effect on Minimal Toe Clearance and Toe Activity during Walking

Yingjie Jin et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of fatigue on the process of walking in young adults using the developed clog-integrated sensor system. The developed sensor can simultaneously measure the forefoot activity (FA) and minimum toe clearance (MTC). The FA was evaluated through the change in the contact area captured by a camera using a method based on a light conductive plate. The MTC was derived from the distance between the bottom surface of the clog and ground obtained using a time of flight (TOF) sensor, and the clog posture was obtained using an acceleration sensor. The induced fatigue was achieved by walking on a treadmill at the fastest walking speed. We evaluated the FA and MTC before and after fatigue in both feet for 14 participants. The effects of fatigue manifested in either the FA or MTC of either foot when the results were evaluated by considering the participants individually, although individual variances in the effects of fatigue were observed. In the dominant foot, a significant increase in either the FA or MTC was observed in 13 of the 14 participants. The mean MTC in the dominant foot increased significantly (p = 0.038) when the results were evaluated by considering the participants as a group.

Keywords: fatigue; forefoot activity; gait; minimal toe clearance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sensor-integrated clogs for measuring FA and MTC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overview of the contact area deviation method based on the use of a light-conductive plate.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of the clog-integrated sensor system developed for measuring the forefoot contact area and minimum toe clearance.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Toe clearance, minimum toe clearance, observed plantar image, and extracted contact area.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Wireless transmission system.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Overview of the contact area extraction process.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Representative results of the extracted contact area. The orange line represents the contact area, while the blue line represents the TC.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Procedure of the main experiment.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Procedure of the data analysis.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Mean values and mean standard deviation values of FA and MTC for all the participants.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Mean values and mean standard deviation values of FA and MTC for all the participants.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Mean FA and MTC of the individual participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Liao S., Ferrell B.A. Fatigue in an older population. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2000;48:426–430. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2000.tb04702.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexander N.B., Taffet G.E., Horne F.M., Eldadah B.A., Ferrucci L., Nayfield S., Studenski S. Bedside-to-Bench Conference: Research Agenda for Idiopathic Fatigue and Aging. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2010;58:967–975. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02811.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lewis G., Wessely S. The epidemiology of fatigue: More questions than answers. J. Epidemiol. Community Health. 1992;46:92–97. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.2.92. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dos Santos P.C.R., Barbieri F.A., Zijdewind I., Gobbi L.T.B., Lamoth C., Hortobágyi T. Effects of experimentally induced fatigue on healthy older adults’ gait: A systematic review. PLoS ONE. 2019;14:e0226939. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226939. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. dos Santos P.C.R., Lamoth C.J.C., Barbieri F.A., Zijdewind I., Gobbi L.T.B., Hortobágyi T. Age-specific modulation of intermuscular beta coherence during gait before and after experimentally induced fatigue. Sci. Rep. 2020;10:15854. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72839-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources