About
The Insoles Laboratory is a new health and wellness service provided by the ABC Academic Center, available to the community.
The foot is the basis of all alignment and support of the human body. Throughout the development and growth of the musculoskeletal system, the feet experience changes to regulate and coordinate static and dynamic posture while walking. This often doesn’t happen physiologically, causing deformities and misalignment of its structures. These alterations can lead to pathological plantar pressures that affect balance and posture, and can induce pain, calluses, flits, and other pathologies or complications such as diabetic foot ulcers.To minimize the harmful effects of misalignment and foot pathologies, plantar orthoses (orthopedic insoles) aim to: align the foot, redistribute plantar pressures, reduce compressive, traction or shear forces, hyperkeratosis, ulceration, or others..With this new service, the goal is to provide more effective and personalized foot orthoses through a biomechanical assessment of the lower limbs, tailored to the specific needs of each client, including:
- Foot and toe deformities
- Pain
- Diabetic foot
- Pediatric foot
- Sports performance
Services
- Special insole design for foot and toe deformities
- Customized solutions for pain reduction
- Insoles for diabetic foot (prevention and treatment)
- Insoles for pediatric foot
- Insoles for sports performance
About
Currently located at the University of Algarve (Building 1 – Floor 0 – Room 0.29), the “Health and Motion Lab” is a research and clinical lab with a comprehensive approach, from healthy life course to exercise performance.
Health and Motion Lab currently focuses on gait kinetics and kinematics analysis, muscular strength, tensiomyography, body composition, indirect calorimetry, spirometry test, cardiorespiratory function, and exercise/passive exposure in hypoxic environments.
These services will soon be available.
Services
- Human Motion Analysis (ground reaction forces, oscillation center of pressure, joint moments, electromyography, jump analysis).
- Muscle strength analysis (concentric, eccentric, isometric evaluation, proprioception test and continuous passive movement for rehabilitation).
- Tensiomyography – Muscle contraction properties
- Body Bioimpedance (fat mass, fat-free mass, muscle mass, phase angle, body water)
- Indirect calorimetry – energy expenditure at rest for planning nutritional therapies.
- Cardiorespiratory examination during exercise (VO2, VCO2, ventilatory thresholds, anaerobic threshold, oximetry, and ECG)
- Spirometry test
Equipment
