Effects of Metatarsal Work Boots on Gait During Level and Inclined Walking

Abstract

Footwear plays an important role in worker safety. Work boots with safety toes are often utilized at mine sites to protect workers from hazards. Increasingly, mining operations require metatarsal guards in addition to safety toe protection in boots. While these guards provide additional protection, the impact of metatarsal guards on gait are unknown. This study aimed to measure the effects of 4 safety work boots, steel toe, and steel toe with metatarsal protection in wader- and hiker-style boots, on level and inclined walking gait characteristics, during ascent and descent. A total of 10 participants completed this study. A motion capture system measured kinematics that allowed for the calculation of key gait parameters. Results indicated that gait parameters changed due to incline, similar to previous literature. Wader-style work boots reduced ankle range of motion when ascending an incline. Hip, knee, and ankle ranges of motion were also reduced during descent for this style of boot. Wader-style boots with metatarsal guards led to the smallest ankle range of motion when descending an inclined walkway. From these results, it is likely that boot style affects gait parameters and may impact a miner’s risk for slips, trips, or falls.

The Impact of Footwear on Occupational Task Performance and Musculoskeletal Injury Risk: A Scoping Review to Inform Tactical Footwear

“…Figure 1 depicts the results of the systematic search and selection process, including a summary of reasons for exclusion of full text articles, which are further detailed in Supplementary File S2 . The 50 articles to inform the review included 25 quasi-experimental studies [ 2 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], eight cross-sectional [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], four randomised control trials [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ], three cohort studies [ 59 , 60 , 61 ], three narrative reviews [ 62 , 63 , 64 ], three systematic reviews [ 13 , 65 , 66 ], three conference abstracts [ 67 , 68 , 69 ], and one case–control study [ 70 ].…”

“…The included articles represented work from 16 countries, with nine population types, and 12 footwear types reported on. The countries from which the articles were drawn included 21 from the United States of America [ 8 , 10 , 30 , 32 , 36 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 49 , 50 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 58 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]; seven from Australia [ 2 , 7 , 13 , 31 , 47 , 48 , 59 ]; three from Germany [ 9 , 33 , 44 ]; two from Brazil [ 38 , 39 ], England [ 29 , 62 ], India [ 37 , 70 ], Poland [ 34 , 60 ], and Saudi Arabia [ 27 , 28 ]; and one from Denmark [ 46 ], France [ 68 ], Japan [ 51 ], Netherlands [ 57 ], New Zealand [ 66 ], Portugal [ 67 ], South Korea [ 35 ], and Switzerland [ 55 ]. Regarding population types, 13 articles discussed military populations [ 8 , 13 , 3...…”

“…Regarding population types, 13 articles discussed military populations [ 8 , 13 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 44 , 50 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ], nine discussed firefighters [ 7 , 10 , 13 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 42 , 43 , 60 ], six discussed trade/industrial workers (ship, construction, factory, and hairdressing) [ 8 , 33 , 45 , 67 , 68 , 70 ], six discussed mine workers [ 2 , 31 , 36 , 47 , 48 , 59 ], five discussed automotive workers [ 9 , 49 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], five discussed hospital/healthcare workers [ 29 , 51 , 54 , 57 , 58 ], two discussed healthy adults [ 34 , 46 ], two discussed university workers [ 27 , 28 ], two discussed school food service workers [ 56 , 61 ] and one review [ 62 ] discussed a broad range of populations. The types of footwear discussed included 19 articles on work safety boots/shoes (light, medium, heavy duty...…”

“…Occupational footwear has been found to impact on and during task performance. These impacts occur during gait [ 2 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ] and on joint ranges of motion [ 9 , 34 , 36 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], posture and balance [ 32 , 45 , 70 ], physiological measures (like aerobic capacity, heart rates, thermal properties, etc.) [ 8 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 35 , 60 ], muscle activity [ 27 , 31 , 33 , 46 ], and occupational tasks (like running to an emergency department or lifting loads) [ 27 , 28 , 57 ].…”

“…[ 8 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 35 , 60 ], muscle activity [ 27 , 31 , 33 , 46 ], and occupational tasks (like running to an emergency department or lifting loads) [ 27 , 28 , 57 ]. The ranges of footwear types to be discussed below as having these occupational impacts include boots [ 2 , 7 , 10 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ], safety shoes [ 9 , 27 , 28 ], athletic shoes [ 44 , 45 ], general work shoes [ 45 , 70 ], low cut work shoes [ 45 ], military dress shoes [ 44 ], rocker soled shoes [ 46 ], low cut enclosed sandal type footwear [ 34 ], and thin sandals [ 35 ].…”