[Measuring plantar pressure in conventional shoes with the TEKSCAN sensory system]

This article describes the assessment of the TEKSCAN pressure monitoring system used in association with normal footwear. After allowing a warm-up period of 5-10 minutes inside the shoe the stability of the sensor output improved as compared with the falsely higher pressures recorded when the warm-up period was not observed. The intra-person coefficient of variation of a single sensor was < 23%, and the intersensor variation was < 31%. However, intrasensor variation was reduced to 15% by appropriate prior preparation. Neither repeated use (< 6 times) of a sensor in a single shoe, nor the use of a single sensor in several different shoes had any effect on sensor function. Active deformation of the sensor resulted in so significant signal.