The innovative protective footwear concept adapts to the user’s needs in new ways, increasing comfort and minimizing strain.
Protective footwear should keep feet and toes safe from impacts, crushing wounds, and punctures from corrosive chemicals and sharp objects. Workers need to be able to trust that they are not at risk of injury if they step on a nail.
However, those who stand or kneel during long shifts should also be able to avoid lower back and knee pain caused by hard, stiff footwear. The challenge so far has been finding a balance between safety and comfort.
Researchers have revolutionized the way shoes are manufactured with a revolutionary new safety shoe concept. Users can choose shoes according to their weight class, the flexibility they need, and the tasks they have to perform.
Many people whose jobs require frequent walking on hard surfaces develop musculoskeletal disorders. Shoes are an important cause of this problem. Our goal is to create shoes that provide better foot health. ”
Torre Christian Storholmen
Storholmen is an industrial designer and senior researcher at SINTEF. In recent years, he has worked closely with manufacturers, end users and industry partners to explore better footwear for frontline workers. They are now seeing encouraging results from the project, which they named Lightfoot.
A unique solution to protect your nails
The result is a protective shoe with a softer sole, which minimizes strain on the heel and provides space for the toes when kneeling.
“The classic way to make shoes was to inject foam into a mold that connects the outsole to the finished upper of the shoe,” says Storholmen.
The injected material forms the stepping part of the shoe and is called the midsole.
“The problem is that the nail protector has to be inserted on top of this midsole, and it’s usually made of a thick, durable fibrous material. Because the nail protector sits on top of the injected foam, comfort is compromised,” says Stoholmen.
“Trial users have reported improved comfort. One user said he was able to stop taking pain medication for the first time in more than 10 years for knee and joint pain.”
So Lightfoot researchers tried placing a traditional insole over the nail protection.
“But it’s pretty thin,” Storholmen says. “So we realized that in order to be able to do something in terms of shock absorption and ergonomics, we needed to change the entire manufacturing method.”
Better shock absorption
The researchers instead chose to place nail protection on the sole of the shoe. They removed the foam layer, leaving the shoe with an empty shell, and instead introduced an interchangeable midsole of different firmness.
The replaceable midsole is “much thicker than traditional insoles, three centimeters thicker in the heel area. This way, we move the soft material closer to the foot and allow people to choose a sole based on their weight class and needs,” says Storholmen.
The test analyzed 20,000 measurements and showed that the new shoe type has better shock absorption during natural walking when compared to a representative selection of safety shoe models currently established on the market, including supplier-specific reference models.
“We were able to significantly reduce the force on the heel and significantly improve the stability of the foot. The force on the heel was reduced by more than 6%,” says Storholmen.
“We worked closely with the Italian manufacturer, who had to completely rethink how they were made. They’ve been making safety shoes for 40 years and say they’ve never seen anyone tinker with so many elements at once.”
6% may not sound like much, but for a person weighing 80 kg, it’s equivalent to losing 5 kg with each step. This can reduce the total load on your body by several tons throughout the day.
20,000 steps a day
The researchers also tested the shoes over several months on employees working in the marine and land-based industries. Storholmen said the feedback supported the laboratory study.
“Trial users have reported improved comfort. One user said he was able to stop taking pain medication for the first time in more than 10 years for knee and joint pain.”
At the same time, Storholmen emphasizes that the relationship between footwear, ergonomics and musculoskeletal conditions is complex.
“We’re talking about very complex causes, and we haven’t done any long-term studies yet. But these are people who walk 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day, and good safety shoes can reduce the impact load. We already know that it can reduce the load, and we’ll see an impact over time.”
Benefits of interdisciplinary projects
The Lightfoot Project collaborated with Wenaas Workwear, a Norwegian company that supplies protective clothing and safety equipment to the Norwegian market. The shoes are made by Orion in Italy.
“We have been working closely with the Italian manufacturer, and they had to completely rethink the way they make them. They have been making safety shoes for 40 years and say they have never seen anyone tinker with so many elements at once,” says Stoholmen.
He emphasized that the project’s results are primarily based on a data-driven approach.
“SINTEF has contributed to the research methodology, and if we had worked in a less interdisciplinary way, this project would not have happened. We have involved researchers in physiology, biomechanics, industrial design, and data analysis. This approach is important when working with an industry as set in its ways as this one. Finding solutions requires looking at things from different perspectives,” says Stauholmen.
Aker BP, Equinor and OneCo are also partners in the Lightfoot project, which receives support from the Norwegian Research Council.
