Foot-stiffening socks reduce the metabolic cost of walking
- 1Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1415, USA
Abstract
Greater foot longitudinal bending stiffness theoretically facilitates bipedal walking by reducing whole-body metabolic rate, yet empirical evidence is elusive. Here, we tested this theory by studying human walking with and without foot-stiffening socks. These custom socks applied more pressure to the user's forefoot than commercially available socks (p < 0.001), which in turn increased medial longitudinal arch stiffness through cross-axis coupling (p = 0.034). Walking with foot-stiffening socks reduced whole-body metabolic rate 2% versus the use of commercial socks (p = 0.008). Biomechanically, stiffening participants' feet increased ankle gear ratio (peak: p = 0.017; average: p = 0.045) and reduced the ankle's average angular velocity during the stance-phase of walking (p = 0.018). In congruence, leg muscle fascicle shortening velocities decreased 15–20% (soleus: p = 0.023; medial gastrocnemius: p = 0.005), contributing to the 9–12% reduction in estimated leg active muscle volume (model1: p = 0.015; model2: p = 0.142). Therefore, foot-stiffening socks make walking less effortful by eliciting more economical leg muscle contractions, supporting the notion that the evolved stiffening of human feet facilitate terrestrial bipedal locomotion.
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BibTeX
@article{tang2026footstiffening,
title = {{Foot-stiffening socks reduce the metabolic cost of walking}},
author = {Hui Tang and Owen Beck},
journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.1467},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13730810},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Foot-stiffening socks reduce the metabolic cost of walking
AU - Hui Tang
AU - Owen Beck
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2026.1467
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13730810
AB - Greater foot longitudinal bending stiffness theoretically facilitates bipedal walking by reducing whole-body metabolic rate, yet empirical evidence is elusive. Here, we tested this theory by studying human walking with and without foot-stiffening socks. These custom socks applied more pressure to the user's forefoot than commercially available socks (p < 0.001), which in turn increased medial longitudinal arch stiffness through cross-axis coupling (p = 0.034). Walking with foot-stiffening socks reduced whole-body metabolic rate 2% versus the use of commercial socks (p = 0.008). Biomechanically, stiffening participants' feet increased ankle gear ratio (peak: p = 0.017; average: p = 0.045) and reduced the ankle's average angular velocity during the stance-phase of walking (p = 0.018). In congruence, leg muscle fascicle shortening velocities decreased 15–20% (soleus: p = 0.023; medial gastrocnemius: p = 0.005), contributing to the 9–12% reduction in estimated leg active muscle volume (model1: p = 0.015; model2: p = 0.142). Therefore, foot-stiffening socks make walking less effortful by eliciting more economical leg muscle contractions, supporting the notion that the evolved stiffening of human feet facilitate terrestrial bipedal locomotion.
SN - 0962-8452
SN - 1471-2954
ER -