Journal of Bionic Engineering 7 Suppl.

(2010) S150S157

A Coupling Analysis of the Biomechanical Functions

of Human Foot Complex during Locomotion
Zhihui Qian1, Lei Ren2, Luquan Ren1
1. Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, P. R. China
2. School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester,
Manchester M60 1QD, UK

Abstract
This study represents a functional analysis of the human foot complex based on in-vivo gait measurements, finite element
(FE) modeling and biological coupling theory, with the objective of achieving a comprehensive understanding of the impact
attenuation and energy absorption functions of the human foot complex. A simplified heel pad FE model comprising reticular
fiber structure and fat cells was constructed based on the foot pad Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. The model was then used
to investigate the foot pad behaviors under impact during locomotion. Three-dimensional (3D) gait measurement and a 3D FE
foot model comprising 29 bones, 85 ligaments and the plantar soft tissues were used to investigate the foot arch and plantar
fascia deformations in mid-stance phase. The heel pad simulation results show that the pad model with fat cells (coupling model)
has much stronger capacity in impact attenuation and energy storage than the model without fat cells (structure model). Furthermore, the FE simulation reproduced the deformations of the foot arch structure and the plantar fascia extension observed in
the gait measurements, which reinforces the postulation that the foot arch structure also plays an important role in energy absorption during locomotion. Finally, the coupling mechanism of the human foot functions in impact attenuation and energy
absorption was proposed.
Keywords: biomechancis, human foot, locomotion, finite element model, bionic engineering, biological coupling
Copyright 2010, Jilin University. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science Press. All rights reserved.
doi: 10.1016/S1672-6529(09)60229-8

1 Introduction
Human foot is a very complex structure comprising
numerous bones, muscles, ligaments, synovial joints and
soft tissues[13]. As the only body part in contact with the
ground during locomotion, human foot plays crucial role
in attenuating ground impact, saving mechanical energy
and maintaining body stability. At heel strike, the foot is
subject to large impact force, which can achieve as high
as the whole body weight due to the collision between
the foot segment and the ground. It is believed that the
strain energy absorbed by the foot structure in the early
and middle stances may be returned in the late stance
phase. During late stance, the foot complex needs to
work effectively to push the lower limb into swing phase
of gait to achieve a whole step[4,5].
Over the past decades, a large number of in-vivo
and in-vitro experimental studies have been conducted
Corresponding author: Luquan Ren
E-mail: lqren@jlu.edu.cn

to investigate the foot biomechanical function[69]. It has

been found that the fatty heel pad may have a great
contribution in shock attenuation, energy absorption and
protection against excessive local stress[1014]. The
stress-strain constitutive relationship and the deformation of heel pad during different activities have also been
investigated[15,16]. It has been suggested that the foot arch,
ligaments, bones and muscles may also contribute to the
energy saving mechanism in the human foot complex
during locomotion[7,17,18]. However, it appears that there
have been very few studies to investigate the functional
mechanism of the heel pad and foot arch structures
during human locomotion. A good understanding of the
fundamental mechanism of human foot function would
further foot biomechanics research and also facilitate its
applications in a broad range of fields, such as clinical
diagnosis, rehabilitation product design and humanoid
robots development.

Qian et al.: A Coupling Analysis of the Biomechanical Functions of Human Foot Complex during Locomotion

In this study, a systematic functional analysis of the

human foot complex is conducted based on in-vivo gait
measurements, Finite Element (FE) modeling and biological coupling theory[19,20] which has been proposed
recently in bionic engineering field. The experimental
procedure and the FE analyses of heel pad and foot arch
structures will be introduced together with the biological
coupling theory. The coupling mechanism of the impact
attenuation and energy absorption functions of the human foot during locomotion will be proposed.

2 Material and methods

2.1 Biological coupling
The biological coupling concept and theory have
been recently proposed in bionic engineering field[19,20].
The biological coupling phenomenon mainly refers to
the emergence of a specific biological function resulted
from the concerted interactions among multiple physical
factors[19,20]. For instance, the self-cleaning function of
lotus leaf was found mainly due to its surface microrelief
and epicuticula wax crystalloids, which can be considered as the coupling result of the surface morphology
(mircorelief) and the material (wax crystalloids)[2123]
(see Figs. 1a and 1b). Similarly, the anti-wear function of
soil-engaging components (including foreleg, claw tip,
forewing and tergum) of mole crickets was the result of
the coupling actions among surface morphology, mi-

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cro-structure and special material[24] (see Fig. 1c). Since

the biological coupling is a widely existing phenomenon
in biological world, there would be a specific coupling
mechanism governing the foot impact attenuation and
energy absorption functions.
2.2 Human subject
A healthy male subject (age: 27yrs, weight: 75kg)
with no history of lower limb injury and foot abnormalities took part in this study. The subject gave informed consent to participate in the Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) scanning and motion capture measurements, which were approved by the Institutional Review
Board Committee.
2.3 Heel pad FE model
The heel pad, which lies between the calcaneus and
the skin is a highly specialized structure characterized by
a matrix of elastic fibrous connective tissue arranged in
septa containing closely packed fat cells. The septa are
reinforced internally with the elastic transverse and diagonal fibres that connect the thicker walls and separate
the fat into compartments or cells[25,26]. Simplified heel
pad FE model consisting of fat cells (Fig. 2a) and reticular fiber structure (Fig. 2b) was constructed from
foot MR image by using Solidworks software (Dassault
Systmes, SolidWorks Corp., U.S.A.) as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 Representative biological coupling phenomena in natural world.

Fig. 2 Simplified heel pad model reconstructed from MRI image.

Journal of Bionic Engineering (2010) Vol.7 Suppl.

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Fig. 3 The finite element model of the heel pad.

A two plate geometric model was also constructed

by applying constraints at both ends (see Fig. 3a, 3b and
3c) to simulate the heel pad deformation under impact.
This geometric model was then imported into and assembled in the FE software package ABAQUS (Simulia,
Providence, USA). Three-dimensional (3D) hexahedron
and tetrahedron elements were used for the mesh generation of the geometric models. Totally, 677406 elements were used (see Figs. 3b to 3e).
The material properties of the fat cells and reticular
fiber structure were mainly based on previous literatures.
The reticular fiber structure was considered to be homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic[27]. The fat cells
were defined as nonlinear hyper-elastic material[28],
whose constitutive relationship is expressed as a second-order polynomial strain energy potential with the
form
U=

ij

i + j =1

( I1 3)i ( I 2 3) j +
i =1

1
( J el 1) 2i , (1)
Di

where U is strain energy; Cij, Di are material parameters,

see Table 1; I1 , I 2 are the first and second deviatoric
strain invariants defined as,

where,

I1 = 12 + 22 + 32 ,

(2)

I 2 = 1( 2) + 2( 2) + 3( 2) ,

(3)

i = J el1/3 i ,

(4)

Jel is the elastic volume ratio; i is the principal stretches.

To simplify, the two plates were defined as rigid
parts in the simulation. The material properties and
element types of each part used in this study were listed
in Table 2.

Table 1 Coefficients of the nonlinear hyper-elastic material used

for the fat cells[28]
Coefficients
Value

C10

C01

C20

C11

C02

D1

0.08556 0.05841 0.039 0.0231 0.00851 3.65273

2

D2
0

Note: Units are Nmm and mm N for Cij and Di respectively.

Table 2 The material properties and the element types used for
the heel pad[27]
Components

Element type

Youngs modulus
E (MPa)

Poissons ratio

Reticular fiber
structure
Rounded plate

3D tetrahedron

1.15

0.49

3D hexahedron

Rectangular plate

3D hexahedron

Fat cells

3D hexahedron

Hyper-elastic

The rounded plate was fixed in the simulation to

represent the support of calcaneus bone (see Fig. 3a).The
rectangular plate vertically moved upward 3 mm during
a time period of 1.5 ms. Two simulations under the same
loading and boundary conditions were conducted. One is
for the heel model only containing reticular fiber structure (structure model) and the other is for the model
consisting of reticular fiber structure and fat cells (coupling model). The contact interactions between different
parts of FE model were all considered. Frictionless
contact was defined for the interfaces between rounded
plate, fat cells and reticular fiber structure. Foot ground
interface was represented by contact surfaces with friction coefficient of 0.6[28].
2.4 Foot motion measurement
A 12 infrared camera motion analysis system
(Qualiys, Sweden) was used to capture the 3D motions
of the foot segments at 150 Hz. A 6 force plate array
(Kistler, Switzerland) was used to record the 3D ground

Qian et al.: A Coupling Analysis of the Biomechanical Functions of Human Foot Complex during Locomotion

reactions at 1000 Hz. A set of infrared reflective marker

clusters was specially designed to capture the delicate
3D multi-segment foot motions (see Fig. 4). The subject
was instructed to walk in bare feet at normal walking
speed along an indoor walkway. The trials were repeated
ten times to ensure a representative gait pattern was
obtained.
Except the foot motion data collection, a 3D foot
musculoskeletal FE model, which was proposed recently[29] (see Fig. 5), was also used to analyse the deformation of foot arch system, including foot arch
structure, ligaments and plantar fascia. The FE model
consisted of 12 muscle groups, 29 bones and 85 ligaments including plantar fascia. Computer simulation of

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mid-stance phase during walking was conducted based

on the 3D FE foot model, where the material properties,
loading and boundary conditions were based on the
previous research[29].

3 Results
Two different models were simulated to investigate
the biomechanical responses of heel pad. Fig. 6 shows
the Von Mises stress distribution results of the heel pad
structure model and the coupling model under compression. It can be seen that the reticular fiber structure is
the major region sustaining loadings in both models. The
stress distribution area in structure model is apparently
smaller than that in the coupling model.

Fig. 4 The designed infrared marker cluster system used to capture foot motions.

Fig. 5 The mid-stance simulation using a 3D FE musculoskeletal foot model.

Fig. 6 Von Mises stress distribution of two different models.

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Journal of Bionic Engineering (2010) Vol.7 Suppl.

For the structure model, the stress mainly distributed on fibre structure within the range of 0.4 MPa
0.78 MPa with some parts suffering large deformations
and being close to yield failure. However, in the coupling model, the von Mises stress distributed uniformly
from the bottom of heel pad to fibre structure within the
range of 0.2 MPa 0.39 MPa, about 50% lower than the
structure model. From Fig. 7, we can see that under the
same loading and boundary conditions, the strain energy
stored in coupling model and structure model were 1.722
J and 1.499 J respectively. Compared with the structure
model, the energy storage capacity of the coupling

(a) Structure model

model was 14.8% higher. The results indicate that the

coupling model has advantages over the structure model
in stress decentralization, which protects human foot
from excessive local stresses.
Navicular is the upmost bone of foot medial arch,
whose vertical displacement indicates the deformation
of foot medial arch structure. Fig. 8 shows the
vertical motions of the marker cluster consisting of four
infrared reflective markers mounted firmly on the
navicular bone. The vertical displacements of these four
markers were 3 mm, 5 mm, 4.3 mm and 5.5 mm, respectively.

(b) Coupling model

Fig. 7 The strain energy stored in two different models.

Fig. 8 The vertical displacements of the four markers mounted on the navicular bone in the mid-stance phase (frame 428-441).

Qian et al.: A Coupling Analysis of the Biomechanical Functions of Human Foot Complex during Locomotion

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Fig. 9 The plantar fascia extensions.

Fig. 10 The extensions of deep transverse metatarsal ligaments.

Figs. 9 and 10 show the predicted extensions of the

foot plantar fascia and deep transverse metatarsal ligaments during mid-stance. Five branches of plantar fascia
have different extensions depending on the loading
transfer condition. As shown in Fig. 9, the first and second branches have the largest extensions, about 1.9 mm
and 1.8 mm respectively. The four deep transverse
metatarsal ligament groups also undergo similar extension. The third and fourth ligament groups were extended more than the other two (see Fig. 10).

4 Discussions and conclusions

In this study, a simplified heel pad FE model comprising reticular fiber structure and fat cells was constructed based on foot pad MR images. The biomechanical responses of foot pad under compression during
locomotion were investigated based on the FE model.
3D gait measurement and a 3D FE foot model comprising 29 bones, 85 ligaments and the plantar soft tissues were used to study the foot arch and plantar fascia
deformations in mid-stance phase.
The heel pad simulation results show that the foot

pad model with fat cells (coupling model) has much

stronger capacity in impact attenuation and energy
storage than the model without fat cells (structure
model). The results also suggest that both fibre structure
and fat cells contribute to the realization of heel pad
biomechanical functions. Furthermore, this is achieved
by not only single factor, e.g. material properties or
architecture structure of the connective tissue[1016,25],
but by the concerted coupling of both. The reticular fiber
structure internally reinforces the whole heel pad with
transverse and diagonal fibers, and can sustain large
external loading. A large number of small closed fat cells
are arranged inside of fiber structure to further effectively absorb and dissipate forces, due to its viscoelasticity. According to the biological coupling theory, the
reticular fiber structure and fat cells are basic coupling
elements of the foot pad to moderate impact and absorb
energy. These two coupling elements are connected with
each other by cross-link coupling pattern. During locomotion, especially in heel-strike, the energy storage of
the foot pad was mainly implemented by using a parallel
mode of complete equilibrium.

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Journal of Bionic Engineering (2010) Vol.7 Suppl.

There are three foot arches in human foot complex:

medial arch, lateral arch and transverse arch. The medial
arch consisting of calcaneus, talus, navicular, three
cuneiforms, and the first, second, and third metatarsals
plays a key role in energy absorption. Therefore, in this
study, the medial arch system is used as a representative
system of the whole foot arch. The FE simulation results
showed that the foot arch tends to flatten during the
mid-stance phase, which agrees well with the foot motion measurement. Due to the different roles in maintaining the integrity of the foot arch, the plantar fascia
and joint ligaments demonstrated different responses to
the foot arch deformation. The plantar fascia was
stretched to transfer the tensile stress to the calcaneus
and metatarsal heads. The extensions of four deep
transverse metatarsal ligament groups may be explained
by the foot inversion and supination motions in the
mid-stance phase during walking.
Furthermore, the 3D FE simulation of foot musculoskeletal model reproduced the vertical displacement
of the foot arch structure (around 3 mm) and the plantar
fascia extension recorded in the gait measurements,
which reinforces the postulation that the foot arch structure plays an important role in energy absorption during
locomotion[7,17,18]. The deformations of foot arch structure, extensions of ligaments and plantar fascia were the
results of the external mechanical work. So, we suggest
that the foot bony structure (including bones and ligaments) and the plantar fascia are the coupling elements
of the foot arch system. These two coupling elements are
connected with each other by an immovable coupling
pattern. The biomechanical function of energy storage
was implemented by using a compound parallel mode of
incomplete equilibrium.
Considering all the results in this study, from the
measurement data to FE simulation results, here we
propose a hypothesis of coupling mechanism for the
impact attenuation and energy storage functions of the
human foot complex. We suggest that the biomechanical
function of foot complex in impact attenuation and energy absorption is the coupling result of the foot pad
coupling sub-system and the foot arch coupling
sub-system. These two coupling sub-systems are the
basic elements of the foot complex, and are connected
via an up-down orientation coupling pattern. During
locomotion, the foot pad system in contact with the
ground attenuates the ground reaction forces, and also

transfers the loads upwards to foot arch system. Hence,

the impact attenuation and energy absorption functions
of foot complex are implemented by a combined parallel
mode of incomplete equilibrium.
The coupling mechanism of the human foot complex proposed in this study would provide more insights
into the biomechanical function of foot and also stimulate research in bionics engineering field, e.g. biomimetic artificial limb or prosthetics design, development
of novel ground-contact components for humanoid robots.

Acknowledgements
The study has been supported by the Key Project of
National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No.50635030). Thanks also to the Structure and Motion
Lab, RVC, and BBSRC for their support from grant
number BB/H003142/1.

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