Effects of a novel inclined-adaptive footwear on change-of-direction performance in male athletes

Background: Although enhancing change of direction (COD) performance is a crucial factor for improving athletic performance in many sports, few studies have explored its effective methods. Research question: This study aimed to investigate the effects of inclined-adaptive footwear (IAF) on force-time characteristics during a COD task. Methods: Thirteen male team sport athletes were randomly assigned to wear IAF or footwear without adaptive technology to perform a COD60° task at their best effort. A three-dimensional force plate was used to obtain the force-time curve and related parameters at the turning step (plant foot). Results: IAF led to a significantly higher resultant ground reaction force (GRF), horizontal GRF, vertical GRF, and horizontal/vertical ratio during the braking phase, followed by a significantly shorter contact time and higher resultant horizontal GRF and vertical GRF during the propulsive phase. Significance: This indicated that a greater GRF output, redistributed GRF, and shorter contact time occurred with the IAF. Therefore, IAF has the potential to enhance COD performance for sports involving multi-directional footwork and contribute to the development of new functional footwear.