A new study conducted in part by the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Department of Biomechanics took on the task of better understanding the relationship between calf muscles and feet.
What they found is that the type of shoe you wear affects your energy level.
Using ultrasound imaging to view the work of the calf muscles while also monitoring a person’s energy level, the study found that a stiffer shoe means using more energy than walking with a flexible shoe, almost the equivalent of adding 13 pounds to the waist.
Dr. Kota Takahashi, an assistant professor at UNO that helped conduct the study, explains what this means for picking out your next pair of shoes.
"I think you can kind of interpret it a couple different ways. Well one say you wanted shoes that will make your exercise harder, then absolutely put a rigged shoe on because that will be more energy demanding and so you can actually get better exercise out of it. But at the same time, if you’re working 9 to 5 and you’re not walking at a very fast speed and you want something that’s really comfortable then chances are you don’t want an extremely stiff shoe.”
Takahashi said there will be more studies in this area in the future, with hopes that they can find better shoe designs for the elderly and disabled.
For more information on this study, the website is unomaha.edu/news.