Procedures
First, participants’ height and weight were measured. Then, the left foot was outfitted with 15 markers according to a multi-segment foot marker set [After markers were placed, subjects walked along a 5.5 m walkway at a controlled walking speed (1.3 m/s) for four order-randomized conditions. The speed of each subject was monitored with timing lights (Brower, Salt Lake City, UT, USA) and each trial had to be within 0.1 m/s of the target speed in order to be considered successful. A baseline condition was performed with subjects walking barefoot (without the brace) to evaluate effects of wearing the brace (CON). Brace conditions included subjects walking while wearing the brace on the left foot (Fig. A subject wearing the brace positioned in 30 degrees of MTP extension (BR_EX; top image) and brace locked in zero degrees of extension (BR_NT; bottom image)Motion data were collected with a 12-camera motion capture system (Qualisys, Gottberg, Sweden) at 100 Hz. Force, center of pressure, and free moment data for each foot segment were calculated using pressure and shear data from the FootSTEPS device, which was placed in the center of the walkway. This sensor consists of a stress-sensitive film, a camera (sampled at 50 Hz), and a force plate (sampled at 1000 Hz). During contact, film displacements are optically measured by the camera, then converted into vertical pressure and mediolateral and anteroposterior shear stress distributions using a finite element analysis. Further details about this device’s hardware and measurement validity are available by Goss et al. [