Effect of the Construction of Carbon Fiber Plate Insert to Midsole on Running Performance

Abstract

In this paper, to investigate the independent effect of the construction of the forefoot carbon-fiber plate inserted to the midsole on running biomechanics and finite element simulation, fifteen male marathon runners were arranged to run across a runway with embedded force plates at two specific running speeds (fast-speed: 4.81 ± 0.32 m/s, slow-speed: 3.97 ± 0.19 m/s) with two different experimental shoes (a segmented forefoot plate construction (SFC), and a full forefoot plate construction (FFC)), simulating the different pressure distributions, energy return, and stiffness during bending in the forefoot region between the SFC and FFC inserted to midsole. Kinetics and joint mechanics were analyzed. The results showed that the footwear with SFC significantly increased the peak metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) plantarflexion velocity and positive work at the knee joint compared to the footwear with FFC. The results about finite element simulation showed a reduced maximum pressure on the midsole; meanwhile, not significantly affected was the longitudinal bending stiffness and energy return with the SFC compared to the FFC. The results can be used for the design of marathon running shoes, because changing the full carbon fiber plate to segment carbon fiber plate induced some biomechanical transformation but did not significantly affect the running performance, what is more, reducing the peak pressure of the carbon plate to the midsole by cutting the forefoot area of the carbon fiber plate could be beneficial from a long-distance running perspective for manufacturers.

Comparison of skin and shoe marker placement on metatarsophalangeal joint kinematics and kinetics during running

“…Increases in running speed led to higher MTP joint dorsiflexion, higher angular velocities and joint moments in the current study, as it has previously been shown in the literature (Day & Hahn, 2019bFlores et al, 2019;Fu et al, 2021), showing that the involvement of the MTP joint is higher when running speed increase (Day & Hahn, 2019b). Our findings indicate that the effect of speed on MTP joint moment is similar using either FTM or SHM, but the magnitude of the effect when studying MTP joint angle is greater with FTM, especially at midstance and during the pushing phase.…”

“…Our findings indicate that the effect of speed on MTP joint moment is similar using either FTM or SHM, but the magnitude of the effect when studying MTP joint angle is greater with FTM, especially at midstance and during the pushing phase. This difference can be due to the slight depression of the metatarsals in the compliant midsole at midstance which may be greater at higher speeds due to higher ground reaction forces (Fu et al, 2021;Nigg et al, 1987). Therefore, the increased dorsiflexion at midstance at 13 compared to 10 km/h was only detected with FTM.…”

Design feature combinations effects of running shoe on plantar pressure during heel landing: A finite element analysis with Taguchi optimization approach

“…Due to the complexity of dynamic FE modeling and the multi-models needed to be constructed with the Taguchi method, rarely do FE studies consider both dynamic modeling and the Taguchi method. Future studies should consider discovering the relationship between shoe design factors and cushion effect from heel contact until toe off, TABLE 6 Hardness characteristics of midsole materials of some sport shoes (Fu et al, 2021).…”

Curved carbon-plated shoe may further reduce forefoot loads compared to flat plate during running

“…Namely, the original plate thickness (1 mm) was increased to 2 mm and 3 mm, referring to stiffer and stiffest scenarios, respectively. Meanwhile, to maintain consistent LBS of the two shapes, the thickness of CCFP was slightly adjusted with the method used by Fu et al 19 . In total, the FE simulation incorporated 7 distinct design combinations as shown in Fig.…”