Effects of deceptive footwear condition on subjective comfort and running biomechanics

Abstract

Comfort is a major criterion for footwear selection. Previous studies have suggested that physical properties were not enough to predict comfort and psychological factors could also affect the perception. To understand comfort, this study examined the effect of controlled shoe description and price cue on the perception of comfort. Furthermore, this study also examined the running biomechanics in response to footwear conditions of differing comfort. Fifteen runners completed treadmill running tests in two conditions: Shoe A and Shoe B. The same pair of neutral running shoes was used in both conditions, yet Shoe B was described to be the "latest model designed to maximize comfort" and more expensive than Shoe A. Comfort assessment was conducted after the running trial of each condition. Participants reported significantly greater comfort in Shoe B than Shoe A (P = .011, Cohen's d = 0.70). There were no significant differences found among the temporal-spatial parameters (P > .916) and the vertical loading rates (P > .161) when comparing the more and less comfortable conditions. In conclusion, runners exhibited a biased perception of footwear comfort when presented with different shoe description and price information. However, such a difference in perceived comfort alone is not likely to affect running biomechanics. K E Y W O R D Sexercise,

Effect of Red Arch-Support Insoles on Subjective Comfort and Movement Biomechanics in Various Landing Heights

“…Third, the participants were reminded about the foot insole conditions prior to the landing tasks. We expected that our participants would favor their positive expectation to the functional benefits of footwear and thus result in greater changes in actual performances, as described in previous studies [28,47]. Mohr et al [27] reported that lightweight shoes leads to significantly better jump and shuffle cut performances than heavy shoes only when the participants were informed about the shoe mass differences (related to mechanical energy).…”

“…Since the comfort level of footwear is considered to be a non-invasive and reliable measure of the potential risk of sports injuries, the relationship of psycho-motor effect requires further evaluation. One plausible explanation of Red-AS benefits is that psychological factors including the awareness and confidence in the benefits of footwear modification would maximize the influence of actual sports performances [26][27][28]. Another plausible mechanism is that visual/color perception would play some role in regulating the degree of comfort perception and movement control [33,58].…”

“…The participants were asked to tighten their laces based on their individual preferences for basketball games. Prior to the actual testing, participants were reminded of the insole types in each orthosis condition, as it would encourage participants to be maximally aware of the functional benefits of the foot orthoses (color and contour) that led to the actual changes in performance [27,28,47]. The participants were asked to perform drop landing when wearing each of the three The participants were asked to tighten their laces based on their individual preferences for basketball games.…”

“…Another explanation could be related to the belief and expectation of the footwear tested [26]. Performance benefits of footwear under playing conditions can be maximized when one is confident with the purported benefits and performance-enhancing properties, as this was indicated by lighter shoe mass for higher jump height [27] and higher market price for better shoe comfort [28]. However, both Joseph et al [24] and Yu et al [18] studies did not measure subjective comfort variables.…”

Footwear comfort: a systematic search and narrative synthesis of the literature

“…Three studies explored the effects of perceptual factors on footwear comfort. Chamb et al [ 30 ] evaluated running biomechanics on a treadmill under two footwear conditions (shoe A and B). Identical running shoes were used in both conditions, but shoe B was described to be the “latest model designed to maximize comfort” and more expensive than shoe A.…”