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Recent Progress in Studying the Human Foot

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Technologies for Medical Sciences

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics ((LNCVB,volume 1))

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Abstract

This chapter has the objective of illustrate some of the work being done on human foot studies in the last years related to its structure and its influence on human locomotion, namely gait, as a mean of detecting physical or pathological problems. One of the aims of this work is to describe the experimental techniques available, some of them developed by the authors, and their fields of application. This description will start with a brief approach to gait characteristics as an introduction to the purpose of using the experimental techniques. First, experimental data acquisition and processing techniques are described, by indicating the type of available systems and then a brief literature review on the research developments on measuring plantar pressures and forces. At last, a section is dedicated to describe numerical techniques and methodologies used today in plantar forces analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management, University of Porto, Campus da FEUP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-432, Porto, Portugal

    V. C. Pinto

  2. Physics Department, School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Rua Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072, Porto, Portugal

    M. A. Marques

  3. LABIOMEP – Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-072, Porto, Portugal

    M. A. P. Vaz

Authors
  1. V. C. Pinto
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  2. M. A. Marques
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  3. M. A. P. Vaz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. C. Pinto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Porto, 4200-465, Portugal

    Renato M. Natal Jorge

  2. Fac. Engenharia, Lab. Engenharia de Processos,, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, Porto, 4200-465, Portugal

    João Manuel R. S. Tavares

  3. UFMG, Laboratorio de Bioengenharia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antonio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, 31270-901, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Marcos Pinotti Barbosa

  4. University of Dundee, College of Art, Science and Engineering, Medical Engineering Research Institute, Dundee, DD1 4 HN, United Kingdom

    A.P. Slade

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Pinto, V.C., Marques, M.A., Vaz, M.A.P. (2012). Recent Progress in Studying the Human Foot. In: Natal Jorge, R., Tavares, J., Pinotti Barbosa, M., Slade, A. (eds) Technologies for Medical Sciences. Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4068-6_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4068-6_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4067-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4068-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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