The Effect of Nanoclay Particles in Sport Shoe Outsole on Ankle Power during Stance Phase of Running

For years, athletic footwear companies tried to modify the shoe outsole construction as an effective factor influencing on kinetic and kinematic parameters of running aiming to improve the energetic parameters of motion. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of Nanoclay particles in sport shoe outsole on ankle joint power during stance phase of running.

Eighteen healthy shod runner males were recruited to run three times at 3.5 m.s-1 under PU, NPU1 and NPU2 shoes. The three-dimensional ankle and knee joint power were determined using the inverse dynamic approach by MATLAB2010 and analyzed by SPSS20 using one-way repeated measures ANOVA.

The result showed that the positive peaks of ankle joint power in all three-dimensional planes significantly influenced by NPU shoe. However, the Running with NPU had not any effect on negative peaks of ankle joint power in all planes.

Running with NPU can improve performance in the sagittal plane and facilitate the stability of the ankle joint in the horizontal plane. While it makes balancing the ankle joint more difficult in the frontal plane.