Post 2 — Plantar Pressure (Pressure Magnitude): The Foundation of Foot Biomechanics

Plantar pressure quantifies where and how much load your foot bears. It's essential for diagnosing foot problems, designing footwear/orthoses, guiding rehab, and preventing running-related injuries. No serious gait analysis ignores pressure maps.

Why pressure maps matter

Core clinical signal: Plantar pressure is key for gait/posture research, diagnosis, footwear design, sport, and rehab.
Running injuries: Systematic reviews link plantar pressure characteristics with running-related injury risk and screening.
Diabetic foot risk: High regional pressures are associated with ulcer risk; pressure assessment helps stratify and monitor risk.
State of the art: Recent overviews stress the clinical importance of plantar pressure measurement and its growing device ecosystem (platform + wearable).

Why density matters

Low-density arrays can miss true peaks and regional patterns (e.g., 1st MTP vs midfoot). A high-resolution matrix captures regional peaks and their migration during stance—essential for accurate coaching and clinical decisions.

Selected references

[1] Razak et al., 2012 — Review

Foot Plantar Pressure Measurement System: A Review

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3444133/

[2] Orlin & McPoil, 2000 — Review (PTJ)

Plantar Pressure Assessment

https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/80/4/399/2842449

[3] Burnie et al., 2024 — Review

Testing protocols and measurement techniques when using plantar pressure systems

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38579518/

[4] Mann et al., 2016 — Systematic review

Plantar pressure measurements and running-related injury

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27264395/

[5] Ahsan et al., 2021

Plantar Pressure Distribution Among Diabetes and Healthy Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8428319/

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