Protótipo experimental de uma palmilha instrumentada para medição de pressão plantar

Abstract

During the locomotor activities of the human being, the foot plays an important role in providing a base of support, balance and sustentation for body weight. And being one of the structures impacted by different force vectors along the walking, it has aroused the interest of researchers in studies related to its biomechanics and the correlated efforts. The interaction between the foot and the support surfaces is called plantar pressure, whose information can be obtained through instrumented devices on platforms or insoles. The results of this assessment help to diagnose diseases related to movement, injury prevention, posture correction, identification of the type of step, among other analyzes. In view of this, this work presents the development of an instrumented experimental prototype with the purpose of collecting information about plantar pressure inside a shoe. For this, resistive force sensors were inserted under an insole in order to measure the force applied at the measurement point. Was used a microcontrolled platform, responsible for the collection, treatment and storage of signals from sensors placed on the insole. The tests performed demonstrated the possibility of using the device as one of the vehicles to determine parameters of the distribution of plantar pressure during the gait cycle. Through the data collected, health professionals can evaluate and estimate diagnoses related to their area of study. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]