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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Introduction: The choice of materials for covering plantar orthoses or wearable insoles is often based on their hardness, breathability, and moisture absorption capacity, although more due to professional preference than clear scientific criteria. An analysis of the thermal response to the use of these materials would provide information about their behavior; hence, the objective of this study was to assess the temperature of three lining materials with different characteristics. Materials and Methods: The temperature of three materials for covering plantar orthoses was analyzed in a sample of 36 subjects (15 men and 21 women, aged 24.6 ± 8.2 years, mass 67.1 ± 13.6 kg, and height 1.7 ± 0.09 m). Temperature was measured before and after 3 h of use in clinical activities, using a polyethylene foam copolymer (PE), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and PE-EVA copolymer foam insole with the use of a FLIR E60BX thermal camera. Results: In the PE copolymer (material 1), temperature increases between 1.07 and 1.85 °C were found after activity, with these differences being statistically significant in all regions of interest (p < 0.001), except for the first toe (0.36 °C, p = 0.170). In the EVA foam (material 2) and the expansive foam of the PE-EVA copolymer (material 3), the temperatures were also significantly higher in all analyzed areas (p < 0.001), ranging between 1.49 and 2.73 °C for EVA and 0.58 and 2.16 °C for PE-EVA. The PE copolymer experienced lower overall overheating, and the area of the fifth metatarsal head underwent the greatest temperature increase, regardless of the material analyzed. Conclusions: PE foam lining materials, with lower density or an open-cell structure, would be preferred for controlling temperature rise in the lining/footbed interface and providing better thermal comfort for users. The area of the first toe was found to be the least overheated, while the fifth metatarsal head increased the most in temperature. This should be considered in the design of new wearables to avoid excessive temperatures due to the lining materials.

Details

Title
Analyzing the Thermal Characteristics of Three Lining Materials for Plantar Orthotics
Author
Querol-Martínez, Esther 1 ; Crespo-Martínez, Artur 1 ; Gómez-Carrión, Álvaro 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Morán-Cortés, Juan Francisco 3 ; Martínez-Nova, Alfonso 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Sánchez-Rodríguez, Raquel 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Clinic Sciences Department, Medicine and Health Sciences Faculty, University of Barcelona, 08080 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected] (E.Q.-M.); 
 Nursing Department, Medicine and Health Sciences Faculty, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28080 Madrid, Spain; [email protected] 
 University Centre of Plasencia, Nursing Department, Universidad de Extremadura, 10600 Plasencia, Spain; [email protected] (J.F.M.-C.); [email protected] (R.S.-R.) 
First page
2928
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
14248220
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3053213985
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.