The Modular Footwear Setup (MFS) demonstrated good-to-excellent inter-session repeatability and no significant differences in joint kinematics or most pressure parameters compared to a control shoe, suggesting it has 'the potential to be a reliable tool for evaluating the effects of midsole features on relevant biomechanical parameters.'
The MFS demonstrated good-to-excellent inter-session repeatability for in-shoe pressure measurements.
Statistical Parametric Mapping analysis did not identify significant differences in lower-limb joint kinematics between the MFS and the control shoe.
No significant differences in in-shoe pressure parameters were observed between MFS and control conditions at any foot region, except at the rearfoot.
Participants reported similar levels of comfort and stability in both the MFS and the control shoe.
The MFS uses a micro-hook-and-loop fastening system and a custom alignment device to enable fast and reliable midsole attachment and detachment from the upper.
This research suggests that a new type of experimental shoe system, called the Modular Footwear Setup (MFS), can reliably measure how different shoe midsoles affect the way people walk. Traditional footwear research has a common problem: when scientists change one part of a shoe to study its effect, other aspects of the shoe often change too, making it hard to know what caused any differences in movement. The MFS addresses this by using a hook-and-loop fastening system and a custom alignment tool that allows researchers to swap out just the midsole — the cushioning layer beneath the foot — while keeping everything else the same. In a study of 10 healthy adults who walked across three separate sessions, the MFS produced highly consistent measurements of foot pressure (with reliability scores of 0.84–0.97 on a scale where 1.0 is perfect) and showed no meaningful differences in how participants moved their joints compared to a standard control shoe. Participants also reported similar levels of comfort and stability in both shoe types. The only notable difference was a slightly higher peak pressure at the heel in the MFS, which may be a minor side effect of the attachment mechanism. This research suggests that the MFS could be a useful tool for shoe designers and researchers who want to rigorously test how specific midsole changes — such as different materials or shapes — affect human movement and foot loading. By enabling cleaner, more controlled comparisons, this kind of modular system could help make footwear design more evidence-based and improve the consistency of biomechanical data used to develop shoes for general consumers, athletes, or people with foot-related health conditions.
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Upload Your LabsSarlak H, Shakir K, Rogati G, Sartorato G, Leardini A, Berti L, et al.. (2026). Development of a Novel Modular Footwear Setup for Testing the Isolated Biomechanical Effects of Footwear Features.. Journal of foot and ankle research. https://doi.org/10.1002/jfa2.70203