'Intelligent' shoe from Adidas

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Good morning all,
Following on from Nike's 'free' running shoe, Adidas are launching an 'intelligent' shoe -
http://popularmechanics.com/outdoors/outdoors/2004/8/brains_for_feet/index.phtml

 

Good post Bob,
Interesting.
No mention of transverse plane torque at all, so the "shoe engineers" are just going for optimum cushioning (and I'd like to see how they worked out what "optimum cushioning" is).

Have the shoe designers taken into account that knees have a natural mild coronal plane valgus angle, or that this may increase depending on extrinsic factors (terrain), and intrinsic factors (biomech anomilies), or that increased valgus angle may account for a high % of knee pain ?
Given that the writer doesn't mention any of this, I assume they haven't.

The clinch line is at the end of the "article" - these are the "coolest shoes
around" etc etc.
Nice design feature - not much more.
Regards,
David

 

intelligent shoe

Surely this rather simple idea could be developed. I'm surprised companies that make in shoe pressure measurement haven't teamed up with footwear manufacturers to make shoes for diabetics with neuropathy for example. I understand there's a variety of advantages and disadvantages with each system, but it hasn't stopped adidas adopting this technology. Imagine being able to supply a neuropathic patient with a pair of intelligent shoes that could sense high plantar pressure under a previous ulcer site and warn them to see their podiatrist before it breaks down (if they had a previous ulcer they may have a pair of orthoses which the pressure sensors could be placed in.) I'm sure there's a number of things wrong with this proposal, but it seems strange that companies are willing to cash in on simple technology to sell shoes and yet organisations such as the NHS aren't trying to save money by developing these ideas.
I've just read that last line again - what was I thinking? Doh!