Objective measurement of adherence to wearing foot orthoses using an embedded temperature sensor

Hylton B Menz; Daniel R Bonanno

doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.12.002

Objective measurement of adherence to wearing foot orthoses using an embedded temperature sensor

Med Eng Phys. 2021 Feb:88:19-24. doi: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.12.002. Epub 2020 Dec 13.

Authors

Hylton B Menz¹, Daniel R Bonanno²

Affiliations

¹ Discipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia; La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia. Electronic address: h.menz@latrobe.edu.au.
² Discipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia; La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.

PMID: 33485509
DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.12.002

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of a temperature sensor for the measurement of adherence to wearing foot orthoses. Ten participants were provided with foot orthoses containing an embedded temperature sensor and wore the orthoses for a randomly-determined duration over a five-day period. Sensor-detected wear time was compared to a reference standard (objectively measured wear time using a smart-phone application). Ambient temperature and physical activity were recorded with a temperature gauge and wearable activity tracker, respectively. A simple peak detection algorithm which identified the largest one-minute changes in sensor temperature provided highly accurate wear time values (r = 0.999, coefficient of variation=0.2%). Ambient temperature and physical activity did not significantly influence temperature sensor scores. These findings demonstrate that the temperature sensor provides accurate foot orthosis wear time data and may therefore be a useful tool for documenting adherence in clinical practice and intervention studies.

Keywords: Adherence; Footwear; Orthosis; Temperature.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Foot Orthoses*
Humans
Temperature