Purpose: The purpose of this field study was to benchmark two recreational road running shoes with respect to comfort and running kinematics using a visual analogue scale (VAS) - questionnaire and inertial measurement units (IMU), re-spectively. It was hypothesized that higher running kine-matic variability and lower peak resultant tibial acceleration (peak TA-R) would be seen for the shoe perceived the most comfortable.
Methods: Fifteen participants took part in this randomized cross-over study and ran 400 m in-field on an asphalt paved road in each of two shoe conditions. Running kinematics were measured using two IMUs. One fixated on the shoe upper and one on the medial distal tibia of the right leg to in-vestigate relative variability (RV) of the late swing phase and peak TA-R, respectively. Five footwear comfort items were measured after the running procedure for each shoe using a 100 mm VAS-questionnaire.
Results: The statistical analysis did not reveal significant differences in comfort or running kinematics between the two shoes. Mean and median comfort scores were all > 50 mm
Conclusion: The current study showed that the two tested running shoes were characterized as equally comfortable with similar RV and peak TA-R.