“Foot Pain” most commonly occurs in pregnant women largely due to foot anatomic variations (e.g. dimensional increase, arch drop), swelling and weakened foot ligaments which are caused by increased body weight and secretion of hormone relaxin, influencing adversely foot health, comfort and postural stability. However, they are often overlooked and no suitable footwear is available in both local and global market to respond to these specific demands. Inspired by “Terrestrial animal foot” structure and by conducting evidence-based foot anthropometry and biomechanical studies, the project aims to develop a bionic smart and functional footwear (BSFF) system for pregnant women via advanced 3D One-body seamless knitting technology, “hetero-knit’ structures, novel insole padding design and biosensory monitoring system, to dynamically adapt foot dimension and volume variations, enhance arch function and ankle support, improve plantar pressure distribution, thus relieving foot pain and improving wearing comfort and ergonomic fit of pregnant women’s footwear. Biosensory conductive weft knit-in and monitoring module will be fabricated to facilitate wears learning their foot health status and taking foot caring timely. The created BSFF system will fill in the gap of present pregnant women shoes market and provides an effective foot caring environment to relive foot pain and improve shoe’s wearing comfort. The new fabrication technologies will enrich technical textile industries and further extend them to wide applications in healthcare service fields.
Project No. (ITC) | ITP/026/17TP |
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Project Type | Platform |
Project Co-ordinator | Dr. Rong Liu |
Research Institute | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
ITF Amount | HK$ 2,077,000 |
Start Date DD/MM/YY | 2018-01-02 |
Completion Date DD/MM/YY | 2020-01-02 |
Sponsors |
Chemtax Industrial Co. Ltd.
Health Pathways Group Ltd.
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