A Powerful Tool for Foot Screening: The Application of 3D Plantar Scanners

The soles of human feet have always been bearing the weight of our entire bodies.

The health of the soles is crucial to our entire bodies.

Once problems occur in our feet, they may affect the health condition of our entire living state; for example, when severe flat feet, high arches, plantar fasciitis, or diabetic foot occur, they will make us feel sole pain during prolonged standing or walking, and may even cause discomfort throughout the entire body.

With the improvement of people's living standards, everyone is paying more and more attention to the health management of the soles, and foot screening has gradually become a part of physical examinations, especially in the adolescent and children group, for whom regular foot screening is very necessary.

This is because during the adolescent and children period, the children's foot shapes and bones have not completely set; if potential foot problems can be discovered in time and corrected promptly, they can be easily cured, and the cost paid will not be so high.

However, if these severe foot problems are not discovered until adulthood, by that time, the bones of the soles will have set, making them difficult to completely cure; in most cases, they can only be relieved. Therefore, for foot problems, the earlier they are discovered, the easier they are to correct; possibly, only convenient methods such as orthotic insoles and orthopedic shoes are needed to achieve ideal results.

In foot screening programs, one of the most commonly seen high-tech devices is the 3D plantar laser scanner.

The 3D plantar laser scanner adopts the principle of lasers to scan and measure the soles of human feet, obtain morphological data such as 3D information of the soles, and analyze them through software, ultimately being able to export measurement reports that truly reflect the health condition of human feet.

In the measurement reports, it can accurately help us judge whether there are foot deformities such as flat feet, high arches, overpronation, or oversupination.

The measured 3D data such as STL can be applied to the design and manufacturing of orthotic insoles, the design and manufacturing of orthopedic shoes, and the design and manufacturing of orthoses.

Combined with the measurement data and measurement reports, doctors and rehabilitation therapists can also formulate reasonable personalized correction plans or rehabilitation training plans for us, which can also be applied to pre-operative and post-operative rehabilitation assessments and provide effective scientific data references for subsequent rehabilitation tracking, so as to better maintain our foot health.

Of course, if combined with gait data and plantar pressure distribution data measured by the plantar pressure distribution system, the data will be more comprehensive, and the effects of the manufactured orthoses, orthotic insoles, and orthopedic shoes will be more obvious.

The measurement by the 3D plantar scanner is very simple; one only needs to stand in the scanning area, and it takes about 30 seconds to complete all the measurements and tests; the operation is simple and can be learned at once, and it will not cause harm to the human body and eyes; it belongs to non-contact measurement, is safe, and has high data accuracy, with the accuracy reaching within 0.5mm.

The 3D plantar scanner can be applied in school foot screening, hospital plantar health screening, foot assessment in rehabilitation institutions, intelligent shoe size selection in footwear stores, and the customization of orthotic insoles, and other fields.