Female foot model for high-heeled shoe design

Despite frequent complaints of shoe discomfort and foot problems, women continue to wear high-heeled shoes for cosmetic purposes and high-heeled shoes are expected to become increasingly popular with global urbanization. Due to limitations of the experimental approach, direct measurements of internal stress/strain of the foot are impossible or invasive, and developing a comprehensive computational foot-shoe model to increase the biomechanical knowledge of high-heeled shoes is very important for addressing foot problems related to their wear and optimization of their design. Computational modeling based on finite element analysis is a useful tool for understanding foot and footwear biomechanics (Cheung et al. 2009; Kirby 2001). The knock-on effect of heel height and high-heeled shoe donning and walking on the foot are investigated in this chapter.