Effects of Shoe-Type Walking Assistive Device for the Blind on Gait Characteristics: A Pilot Study

Until now, shoe-type walking assistive device for the blind have not been fully studied. Accordingly, in this study, the gait characteristics were analyzed by comparing the differences in the foot pressure, number of collisions, and required time between when walking with the white cane and walking with shoe-type walking assistive device. Ten male subjects were instructed to walk on the experimental area which was composed of obstacles randomly. The foot pressure data were analyzed by the mean force and it was divided into four regions such as whole foot, forefoot, midfoot and rearfoot region. The number of collisions and required time was also measured during walking. In the results, the foot pressure in the forefoot regions on both sides decreased significantly while that in the rearfoot region on left side only increased when walking with shoe-type walking assistive device. In addition, the required time increased significantly when walking with shoe-type walking assistive device. From the results of this study, we suggests shoe-type walking assistive device for the blind may influence positively on gait of users by reliving high pressure of the foot during walking.