Influence of Footwear on Individual Performance during Prolonged Standing

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Standing is a normal posture during working in industries, some jobs even make it mandatory to stand while working. Standing is natural and itself doesn't pose specific health risk. But standing for very long duration has an immense share in many health complications. The aim of this study is to determine which type of footwear is healthier to wear while standing for long periods. Five physically fit participants ( = 5) were chosen from live industrial environment. All the five participants participated in this study without disturbing their usual work as machine operator. Photo-plethysmography (PPG) was used to collect continuous heart rate information from each participant. Each participant was observed for six hours each day for two consecutive days, wearing different footwear each day. The information collected was used to calculate total energy expenditure during the experimentation period. In this study, it was observed, that standing for longer duration when wearing floaters ( = 1699.5, = 451.5) and when wearing shoes ( = 1288, = 140), have alternative hypothesis. It was observed that there is significant difference ( (4) = 2.095, < 0.1; % ) in energy expenditure while different type of footwear was used. Participants were more physically exerted when wearing floaters than that when wearing shoes. Thus, it can be concluded that wearing shoes while standing for longer duration is the best choice. This study shows that the average energy expenditure among the group while using shoes is 22% less than that while using floaters. This makes wearing shoes a good choice while standing for longer duration.