A female-specific approach to the design of running footwear: beyond 'shrink it and pink it'

采用女性特有的跑鞋设计方法，能提高女运动员的成绩吗？几十年来，跑鞋的设计一直使用男性受试者来告知跑鞋的形状、舒适性和性能，无论最终用户是男性还是女性。标准的做法是将女性跑步者视为男性跑步者的较小版本--其特点是“缩小它，粉化它”。然而，对女性在解剖学、生理学和生物力学方面的差异了解得足够多，因此有必要采用女性特有的方法来设计跑鞋。我们的长期愿景是通过理论和实验来揭示这一过程，以了解女性跑步者的不同之处，以及女性在寿命和月经阶段的不同。我们的目标是帮助所有女性跑得更快、更远、终身。从运动胸罩到女性专用的自行车鞍座和运动背带(Jills)，其他专门为女性身体设计的运动装备在运动追求中提高了舒适性、安全性和表现。我们的假设是，为女性设计的跑鞋必须利用解剖学、生理学和生物力学的差异来优化女性的表现。这一合作研究项目的目标是：1)确定不同材料对女性专用跑鞋生物力学性能的影响；2)探索女性专用跑鞋的舒适性和鞋底压力之间的关系；3)确定不同材料性能对女性跑步者生物力学和表现的影响。我们的方法是使用女性特有的模型来为设计提供信息，并在女运动员身上测试原型以衡量成功。这个合作项目的主要目标是开发一种专门为女运动员设计的跑鞋，并针对女跑步者的表现进行优化。在设计和测试鞋子时，将考虑解剖学、生理学和生物力学方面的差异，预期结果是可以上市的鞋子。

Can the performance of female athletes be enhanced by a female-specific approach to the design of running footwear? For decades, running footwear has been designed using male subjects to inform the shape, comfort, and performance of running shoes regardless of whether the end-user is male or female. The standard approach has been to treat female runners as smaller versions of males - characterized by the phrase "shrink it and pink it." However, enough is known about differences in female anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics that a female-specific approach to the design of running footwear is warranted. Our long-term vision is to inform this process using both theory and experiments to understand how the female runner differs and also how females differ from each other across the lifespan and menstrual phase. Our aim is to help all females run faster, further, and for life. From sports bras to female-specific bike saddles and jock straps ("jills"), other sports equipment designed specifically for a female body have improved comfort, safety, and performance in athletic pursuits. Our hypothesis is that a running shoe designed for females should necessarily exploit differences in anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics to optimize female performance. The objectives of this partnered research project are to: 1) determine the effect of different materials on the biomechanical properties of a female-specific running shoe; 2) explore the association between comfort and in-shoe plantar pressure for a female-specific running shoe; and 3) determine the effect of different material properties on the biomechanics and performance of female runners. Our approach is to use a female-specific model to inform design and test prototypes on female athletes to measure success. The primary goal of this partnered project is to develop a running shoe designed specifically for the female athlete and to optimize the shoe for performance in the female runner. Differences in anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics will be considered in the design and testing of the shoe, with a market-ready shoe as the expected outcome.