Abstract des Autors

Balance is important in many activities of daily living and sports movements. Texture, added to shoe insole material, has been
shown to improve balance in young, older and pathological populations. The aim of this study was to develop and test textured
socks, which might have several potential benefits over insole use including: they can be worn without, or transferred between,
shoes, and texture can be applied to areas of the foot other than the plantar surface. Prototypes socks were made with nodules (5
mm diameter) sewn onto socks on: 1) the plantar surface, 2) the dorsal surface, 3) sides of the foot and 4) covering the entire
surface. Participants (n=13) performed three single-legged stance trials, standing on a force platform. with eyes open and eyes
closed, whilst wearing each of the prototype socks and a control sock. Balance was quantified using the postural time-toboundary
measure. Results revealed a trend towards improved balance in the Sides sock condition (eyes open d = 0.62, eyes
closed d = 0.51) conditions. This finding supported previous data from studies showing benefits of wearing insoles with plastic
tubing around the perimeter of the foot, suggesting that textured socks might be useful as an intervention to improve balance.