Improving Footwear for Underground Coal Miners
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Final Report Improving Footwear for Underground Coal Miners Coal Services Health and Safety Trust (HST Project No. 20620) Principal Investigators: Professor Julie R Steele PhD Dr Diane L Harland PhD Dr Alison F Bell PhD Ms Jessica A Dobson BSc (Hon) Biomechanics Research Laboratory, University of Wollongong, Australia July 2017 1 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 10 2. Project Description........................................................................................................ 11 2.1 Goals and Objectives.................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Changes to the Initial Grant Proposal .......................................................................... 13 3. Study 1 .......................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 14 3.1.1 Participants and Survey Implementation ..................................................................... 14 3.1.2 Survey Design and Development .......................................................................... 14 3.1.3 Survey Analysis ..................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Results: Part 1 .............................................................................................................. 15 3.2.1 Job Details ............................................................................................................ 15 3.2.2 Foot Problems, Lower Limb Pain History and Orthotic Use ............................... 16 3.2.3 Foot Problems and Lower Limb Pain Related to Job Details, Comfort and Fit .. 18 3.2.4 Work Footwear Habits and Work Footwear Fit and Comfort .............................. 18 3.2.5 Work Footwear Habits and Work Footwear Fit and Comfort Related to Foot Problems, Lower Limb Pain History and Job Details .......................................... 18 3.3 Results: Part 2 .............................................................................................................. 20 3.3.1 Work Footwear Habits .......................................................................................... 20 3.3.2 Foot Problems, Lower Limb and Lower Back Pain History ................................ 21 3.3.3 Work Footwear Fit and Comfort .......................................................................... 23 3.4 The “Take-Home Message” ......................................................................................... 24 3.5 Outputs ......................................................................................................................... 25 3.5.1 Publications .......................................................................................................... 25 3.5.2 Conferences ........................................................................................................... 25 4. Study 2 .......................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 26 4.1.2 Participants ........................................................................................................... 26 4.1.3 Foot Scans ............................................................................................................. 26 4.1.4 Boot Moulds .......................................................................................................... 27 4.1.5 Boot Mould Scanning ............................................................................................ 28 4.1.6 Analysis of the Scanned Images ............................................................................ 29 2 4.1.7 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................ 30 4.2 Results: Part 1 .............................................................................................................. 32 4.2.1 Comparing the Miners’ Feet and their Internal Boot Dimensions .............................. 32 4.2.2 Boot Type and Boot Size Effect .................................................................................... 32 4.3 Results: Part 2 .............................................................................................................. 40 4.3.1 Work Boot Fit and Comfort and Reported Foot Problems, Lower Limb Pain and Lower Back Pain History ............................................................................................. 40 4.3.2 Predictors of Foot Problems, Lower Limb and Lower Back Pain History ................ 40 4.4 The “Take-Home Message” ......................................................................................... 42 4.5 Outputs ......................................................................................................................... 43 4.5.1 Publications .................................................................................................................. 43 4.5.2 Conferences .................................................................................................................. 43 5. Study 3 .......................................................................................................................... 44 5.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 44 5.1.1 Participants .................................................................................................................. 44 5.1.2 Experimental Procedures ............................................................................................. 44 5.1.3 Statistical Analysis ....................................................................................................... 46 5.2 Results .......................................................................................................................... 46 5.2.1 Perceived Comfort ................................................................................................ 46 5.2.2 Muscle Activity ...................................................................................................... 48 5.2.3 Joint Angle and In-Shoe Pressure ......................................................................... 49 5.3 The “Take-Home Message” ......................................................................................... 50 5.4 Outputs ......................................................................................................................... 51 5.4.1 Publications .................................................................................................................. 51 5.4.2 Conferences .................................................................................................................. 51 6. Study 4 .......................................................................................................................... 52 6.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 52 6.1.1 Participants ........................................................................................................... 52 6.1.2 Experimental Procedures ...................................................................................... 52 6.1.3 Boot Conditions..................................................................................................... 54 6.1.5 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................ 58 6.2 Results .......................................................................................................................... 58 6.2.1 Perceived Comfort ........................................................................................................ 60 6.2.2 Muscle Activity, Ankle Range of Motion and In-Shoe Pressure ................................... 63 3 6.3 Key Findings to Date ................................................................................................... 65 6.4 Outputs ......................................................................................................................... 65 6.4.1 Publications .......................................................................................................... 65 7. Recommendations to Date ............................................................................................ 66 8. Where to from here? ..................................................................................................... 66 9. References ..................................................................................................................... 67 10. Appendices .................................................................................................................... 69 4 Figures Figure 1: Two typical underground coal mining steel-capped work boots. A: Gumboot (Style 015; Blundstone®, Australia) and B: Leather lace-up boot (Style 65-691; Oliver,