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Pedobarography is the study of pressure fields acting between the plantar surface of the foot and a supporting surface. Used most often for biomechanics analysis of gait analysis and posture, pedobarography is employed in a wide range of applications including sports biomechanics and gait biometrics. The term 'pedobarography' is derived from the Latin: pedes, referring to the foot (as in: pedometer, pedestrian, etc.), and the Greek: baros meaning 'weight' and also 'pressure' (as in: barometer, barograph).
There are a few differences between the types of information you will receive from these two systems, so depending on the application one system might be a better fit. For example, a floor-based system will provide spatial temporal information, like stride length that an in-shoe system cannot provide. Platform systems (or floor-based systems) will also allow for testing of patients with walking aids for assistive devices. However, there is some controversy about evaluating natural gait with a platform system due to patients potentially targeting the platform when walking. This is where an in-shoe system provides an advantage as it reduces the risk of targeting. Users should evaluate carefully the differences between the systems, the patients they will be evaluating and the type of data they are interested in when selecting a system.
The spatial and temporal resolutions of the images generated by commercial pedobarographic systems range from approximately 3 to 10 mm and 25 to 500 Hz, respectively. Finer resolution is limited by sensor technology. Such resolutions yield a contact area of approximately 500 sensors (for a typical adult human foot with surface area of approximately 100 cm2). For a stance phase duration of approximately 0.6 seconds during normal walking, approximately 150,000 pressure values, depending on the hardware specifications, are recorded for each step.
The most commonly analyzed pedobarographic variable is 'peak pressure', or the maximum pressure experienced at each sensor (or pixel, if the sensors fall on a regular square grid) over the duration of the step. Other variables like contact duration, pressure-time integral, center of pressure trajectory, for example, are also relevant to the biomechanical function of the foot.
The use of pedobarographs in clinical settings is supported by researchers. According to Bowen, et al., "Pediobarograph measurements can be used to monitor and quantitatively assess the progressive changes of foot deformity over time. Pedobarograph is a reliable measurement that shows little variability between measurements at the same occasion and between measurements on different days."
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