How to read a footstrike and a bioload?
How to read a foostrike
When scrolling through the running analysis of your customer, it is important to take a moment and explain the unique footstrike of your customer. It usually helps to just explain what you see.
The footstrike, or the live pressure map, is indicated by different colours, ranging from light blue to dark red. Where light blue is the lowest pressure and dark red is the highest pressure of the customer.
The orange line in the footstrike represents the gait line of the customer. The gait line is unique to every customer, and it represents the roll of the foot during a step on the ground. The following three parts of a footstrike are important to highlight:
- Strike: the strike is the moment when the foot first contacts the ground. It is important to pay attention if the gait line is moving towards the inside (medial) or the outside (lateral) of the foot.
- Mid-stance: during this phase, the body will decelerate and move over the foot. The transition of pressure and movements in the foot will be captured in the pressure map and gait line. This phase will also acknowledge if the customer is pronating or supinating.
- Toe-off: this is the final moment that the foot is in contact with the ground. This can provide information about which part of the foot is used to push off the ground. For walking it is important to pay attention if the customer is using their big toe during toe-off.
Here you can see four different types of footstrike.
- Footstrike 1: Rear footstrike. The heel lands first, with the foot rolling through to the forefoot. This is the most common footstrike pattern.
- Footstrike 2: Midfoot strike 1. The strike is at the lateral midfoot. Next, the foot moves towards the toes.
- Footstrike 3. Midfoot strike 2. The strike is at the outside of the forefoot. Next, the foot flattens and both the forefoot and heel are on the ground, before moving towards the toes.
- Footstrike 4. Forefoot strike. The strike is at the outside of the forefoot and moves towards the toes. The heel does not contact the ground at all.
To make sure the ARION Smart Insoles and ARION pods are working, you can always ask the customer to move around from their heels to their toes to show the live pressure.
How to read the bioload
The ARIONHUB app has a built-in bioload that can help you visualize what body parts are experiencing (over)loading. The redder the body part, the more load on that specific body part. The body parts that light up in red are the parts where the customer is most likely to experience fatigue, sore muscles or potential injuries after longer walks. It doesn’t mean that the customers are automatically going to be injured in these body parts. The ultimate picture is when multiple body parts experience loading so that there is an even distribution of the load.
Disclaimer: ARION can be used to analyse a walking/running technique, but keep in mind that it is not created or designed as a medical device. Therefore, always consult with a health professional in case you have any questions or doubts about potential injuries.
