Footwear Innovation to Improve Safety for Female Turf Sport Players (“FemFITS”)

足球和橄榄球的鞋类研发几乎完全基于男性参与者的要求，导致对女性运动员的需求缺乏具体了解--尽管女性参与是这些运动中增长最快的领域。对女性运动员来说，不合适的鞋子对受伤风险(生物力学)和持续参与(舒适性、安全性)都有负面影响。这一点甚至得到了议会妇女和平等委员会的承认，该委员会强调了职业足球运动员前十字韧带受伤的普遍性，以及顶级俱乐部82%的女球员经常穿着的靴子感到不适。该项目将结合技术创新和客户洞察力，创建一条产品线，通过女性专用鞋类设计确保安全参与草皮运动。具体地说，与膝盖和脚踝损伤最相关的设计因素是靴子外底或底板提供的牵引力水平，靴底或底板是鞋的最底层元素。由于所有研发都集中在男性球员身上，目前尚不清楚女性球员的实际牵引力需求。目前市场上还没有专门为女性球员设计的“软地”靴子。柔软的地靴结合了长长的金属螺柱，在动态扭转和转身运动中增加了牵引力。虽然对这些动作很重要，但为男性设计的较高牵引靴会使女性运动员面临更高的受伤风险。女性特有的因素，如身体质量比、速度和运动角度以及作用力的大小，应该会影响牵引力要求。软地靴必须(重新)为特定的和不断增长的女球员群体而设计。这个项目将建立在Ida Sports获奖的女性(坚固地)鞋的基础上，瞄准特定的市场机会-钉钉软地靴。项目合作伙伴埃克塞特大学将利用他们在3D足部扫描、人体运动跟踪、力传感器和压力测量鞋垫方面的专业知识。

Footwear R&D for football and rugby has been based almost solely on male participants' requirements, resulting in a fundamental lack of specific understanding of female players' needs -- despite women's participation being the fastest growing areas of these sports.For female players, inappropriate footwear has a negative influence both on injury risk (biomechanics) and sustained participation (comfort, safety). This has even been recognised by the Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee, which highlighted the prevalence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in professional football players, as well as 82% of female players at top clubs suffering regular discomfort in the boots they wear. This project will coalesce technical innovation with customer insight to create a product line that ensures safe participation in turf-based sports through women's-specific footwear design.Specifically, the design factor most frequently associated with knee and ankle injuries is the level of traction provided by the boot outsole or soleplate, the bottom-most element of the shoe. As all R&D focused on male players, the actual traction requirements of female players are currently unknown.There are no "soft ground" boots designed specifically for female players on the market. Soft ground boots incorporate long metal studs that increase traction during dynamic twisting and turning movements. Whilst important for these movements, higher traction boots designed for men place female players at heightened injury risk.Female-specific factors such as body mass ratios, speed and angles of movement and size of applied forces should influence traction requirements. Soft ground boots must be (re)designed for the specific and growing population of female players.This project will build on Ida Sports' award-winning female (firm ground) footwear, targeting the specific market opportunity of studded soft ground boots. Project partner University of Exeter will leverage their expertise in 3D foot scanning, human movement tracking, force sensors and pressure-measuring insoles.