Running Shoe Essay

Julie Smith

FYS Critical Writing #5

Abstract:

The research conducted was done to try and answer the questions about whether certain apparel or shoe model was superior over all other options. The purpose of our experiment was to see if there was a type of sock that contained a certain fabric or a more expensive shoe that was better for exercise. Twelve male subjects participated in two trial sessions and were asked to run on a treadmill for a set amount of time and had temperature and heart rate measurements taken. In one trial the subjects wore four different socks chosen in a random order and in the other trial the subjects wore four different shoe models chosen in a random order. The mean perceived heat, change in skin temperature during running, and change in sock temperature during running in the sock trial was significantly difference. A significant difference was found in the mean of perceived comfort, change in skin temperature during rest, and change in sock temperature during rest for the shoe trial. After the experiment was finished, the final conclusion was a sock type and shoe model should be chosen for exercise based on subjective results rather than objective.

Introduction:

In previous studies, tests were done in order to determine what type of clothing would be best to wear during exercise. In one study the purpose was to test two different sock fabrics and observe the foot temperatures. The results showed that the ergonomic sock had a lower perceived heat and the subjects preferred it to the standard sock (Purvis and Tunstall). In another study the purpose of the experiment was to see if clothing fabric may have an impact on human physiology and thermal comfort at during rest and exercise. The results showed that wearing different types of fabric had some impact on the perception of comfort by the subjects wearing coarse wool or acrylic depends on their state of mind and differed at rest and after exercise (CiesielskaI, Mokwinski,...