Measurement of studded shoe–surface interaction metrics during in situ performance analysis

Interaction between studded footwear and performance surfaces plays an important role in sport. Discretising this interaction into quantifiable measurements can help optimise design of outsoles and identify parameters for performance testing in situ. Here, we describe the development and validity of an image-based three-dimensional (3D) measurement system to investigate shoe–surface interactions during locomotion performance in situ by eight skilled footballers. By calculating individual stud positions, results revealed that the 3D kinematic data could be distilled to a number of shoe–surface interaction metrics such as orientation, velocity, translation distance and location of the centre of rotation. Findings show how the measurement system and simple analysis methods can be used to provide informative shoe–surface interaction metrics from in situ performance capture for the footwear community