The mechanical properties of human foot tissues are important for foot pathological diagnosis, medical treatment evaluation and other applications such as developing sport shoes and finite element model of foot. In this study, a cost-effective, flexible and automatic indentation apparatus for characterizing the viscoelastic property of foot tissue has been developed. This apparatus uses a stepper motor to control the indentation speed, a load cell and a potentiometer to measure the force and tissue indentation respectively. Calibration tests indicate that the apparatus developed is capable of measuring mechanical properties of foot tissue in-vivo, it could be applied in the clinical field for foot healthcare and future design of the comfortable shoes.
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