7th Symposium on Footwear Biomechanics

July 27-29

Cleveland, Ohio

 

 

Brief Report

 

 

Summary

 

The International Society of Biomechanics Technical Group on Footwear Biomechanics held their 7th Symposium on Footwear Biomechanics from July 27-29, 2005 on the campus of Case in Cleveland, Ohio. This was a unique opportunity for a large number of footwear researchers and students to participate in an ISB technical group meeting at a relatively low cost in North America.  The symposium attracted 129 registrants and had a scientific program of high quality. 

 

Organisation

 

The symposium was held on the campus of Case in Cleveland, Ohio. Case, Case Western Reserve University, is a private research university located in University Circle, a 550-acre, park-like concentration of nearly 50 cultural, medical, educational, religious, and social service institutions located at the eastern edge of Cleveland.  Thwing Center at Case was chosen for the main meeting. This facility was a five-minute walk from the Case dormitories and The Glidden House, the two main accommodations for the meeting. Thwing Center was also within walking distance of major attractions such as The Cleveland Art Museum and Natural History Museum located in University Circle as well as Little Italy, a neighborhood with art galleries and Italian restaurants.

 

The scientific content of the conference, including meeting announcements, program format, session scheduling, creation of the program book, awards management was administered by Keith Williams and Joe Hamill. The logistics of the congress, including the facilitation of registrations, accommodations, transportation, meeting facilities, social events, proceedings publication, meeting bags, and catering was administered by Elizabeth Hardin. Meeting information was posted on the website of the group by Nachi Chockalingam.

 

Abstract submissions, reviews and acceptances were managed by Keith Williams and Joe Hamill. In addition, they also managed the award selection committees. Registrations, mailings, and facility bookings were handled by Elizabeth Hardin, Cathy Walker and The Cleveland FES Center staff.  This staff had experience with organization of similar events. 

 

The sponsors of the meeting were Nike, Adidas, New Balance and RsScan.

 

Scientific Meeting

 

Benno Nigg and Martyn Shorten were keynote speakers giving a perspective on the biomechanics of footwear in the past, present, and future.  The scientific program was very well received by the attendees, and the consensus of many individuals was that the quality of the presentations was at the highest level yet for a footwear symposium.

 

Business Meeting

 

A business meeting was held during lunch of the first day of the meeting, and Keith Williams, the Chairperson of the group presented a draft constitution for discussion and voting.  Following several changes to the constitution a vote was taken to accept the constitution, passing unanimously. Nominations were then taken for various positions in the Executive Board, and elections will occur during the next few weeks.

 

Banquet and Prizes

 

The meeting concluded with a banquet held at the Glidden House on the Case Western campus, highlighted by the presentation of four sponsored awards The winners of the various awards are listed below. These four prizes were chosen by a jury of three judges: Bart Van Gheluwe, Ewald Hennig, and Ned Frederick.

 

Young Investigator Award - Sponsored by New Balance

Inga Krauss, Medical Clinic, Department of Sports Medicine, University Clinics Tübingen

Gender Differences In Foot Shape

 

Pressure Research Award - Sponsored by Rsscan

Jason Tak-Man Cheung, Rehabilitation Engineering Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Parametrical Design Of Foot Orthosis For Plantar Pressure Relieve Based On Computational Modelling

 

Applied Research Award - Sponsored by adidas

 

Tsuyoshi Nishiwaki, ASICS Corporation

 

New Fitting Designing Method Based On Barefoot Deformation

 

Basic Research Award - Sponsored by Nike

 

W. Potthast, Institute for Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, German Sport University, Cologne

 

Changes In Morphology And Function Of Toe Flexor Muscles Are Related To Training Footwear

 

Nike Prize.  The Nike Prize, a $25,000 award sponsored by Nike for research helping with a better understanding of lower extremity injuries was also awarded at the banquet.  Manuscripts submitted to Nike were screened by Nike personnel with five chosen for review by a jury chaired by Peter Cavanagh with members of Joe Hamill, Keith Williams, Simon Leuthi, and Mario Lafortune.

 

Nike Prize Winner: Tine  Willems, Witvrouw Erik, De Cock Anneleen, De Clercq, Dirk. Departments of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy & Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium.

 

Gait Related Risk Factors For Exercise-Related Lower Leg Pain During Shod Running

Delegates

 

The 2005 symposium attracted 129 registrants. The geographical breakdown of the participants is below.

 


Of these registrants, 17% were students and 56% were from outside North America. The location, convenient to many in North America, may have helped in attracting this number of participants. The more likely draws were the inaugural Nike Prize and the ISB/ASB 2005 Congress which began the following Sunday. Following the symposium, transportation via tourist trolleys was arranged for those attending the ISB/ASB 2005 Congress at Cleveland State University in downtown Cleveland.

 

 

Activities

 

Cultural, recreational and historical activities were available to registrants and their guests in an area adjacent to the symposium known as University Circle. The institutions included in University Circle are The Natural History Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum. Public access to this area provided green space for recreation with access to each institution no more than a five-minute walk from Thwing Center and The Glidden House and dorms. In addition, neighboring Little Italy provided restaurants and art galleries within a 15-minute walk from Thwing Center.

 

Social events were included in the meeting registration fee. We hosted a traditional opening reception on Wednesday evening in The Glidden House, an historical home on the campus of Case. This reception took place following the opening ceremony. On Thursday we had a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception in the poster area at The Wolstein Research Building on Case’s campus. The Friday evening banquet was held under a tent on the patio of The Glidden House on the last evening of the symposium. The Glidden House opened their pub to our meeting following the banquet. 

 

Climate

 

The weather in Cleveland is generally nice at this time of the year due temperature and humidity decreases from summer highs. As it happens, we had a great deal of good fortune with the weather for this meeting. The mean temperature over the course of the meeting was 72°F  / 22°C, the mean humidity was 69% and no precipitation fell during sessions. Unfortunately, many people arrived the night before the meeting as the weather was changing and they did experience a large summer storm.

 

Final Comment

 

Overall, it was an excellent meeting. Thanks to the organisers and the sponsors. We look forward to the next meeting in Asia.