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A wearable smart insole system accurately measures foot pressure, providing a new tool for diagnosing and monitoring flat feet.
Researchers developed a portable, wearable smart insole system with flexible sensors to measure foot pressure. The system was tested on people with flat feet, healthy individuals, and those with postural deformities. The results showed that the system's pressure maps matched those of a gold-standard reference device, indicating its accuracy and usability for mobile clinical measurements.
Abstract
This study aimed to design, calibrate, and conduct a pilot clinical validation of a microcontroller-based, portable, wearable smart insole system incorporating flexible carbon-loaded polymer-film sensors for use in the diagnosis and follow-up of flatfoot (pes planus). Flexible sensor nodes manufactured in accordance with EU size 36 foot morphology were continuously synchronized with the microcontroller architecture and an integrated datalogger layer. The accuracy of the developed 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) calibration model and cumulative signal-filtering algorithms was tested during static stance and dynamic gait phases in a pathological case with unilateral medial arch collapse, as well as in healthy participants and patients with postural deformities. The pedobarographic pressure maps generated by the system were found to demonstrate complete agreement and strong correlation with the outputs of a gold-standard clinical baropodometric reference device (Medicapteurs™). The findings confirm that the developed integrated system provides an accurate, accessible, and usable alternative for mobile clinical measurements.
Keywords
Pes PlanusPedobarographyVelostat
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References
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