The heel pad (HP) which is located below the calcaneus comprises a composition of morphometrical and morphological arrangements of soft tissues that are influenced by factors such as gender, age and obesity. It is well known that HP pain and Achilles tendonitis consist of discomfort, pain and swelling symptoms that usually develop from excessive physical activities such as walking, jumping and running. The purpose of this study was to develop biomechanical techniques to evaluate the function and characteristics of the HP. Ten healthy participants (five males and five females) participated in this laboratory-based study, each performing a two-footed heel raise to mimic the toe-off phase during human locomotion. Twenty-six (3 mm) retroreflective markers were attached to the left and right heels (thirteen markers on each heel). Kinematic data was captured using three-dimensional motion analysis cameras synchronised with force plates. Descriptive and multivariate statistical tests were used in this study. In addition, a biomechanical technique that utilises only six markers from 26 markers to assess HP deformation and function has been developed and used in this study. Overall HP displacement was significantly higher in males on the most lateral part of the right heel (p < 0.05). No significant differences were evident when comparing the non-dominant and dominant heels during the baseline, unloading and loading phases (p > 0.05). Findings from this study suggested that biomechanical outputs expressed as derivatives from tracked HP marker movements can morphologically and morphometrically characterise HP soft tissue deformation changes. The outcome of this study highlights the importance of 3D motion analysis being used as a potential prospective intervention to quantify the function / characteristics of the heel pad soft tissues.

位于跟骨下方的足跟垫 (HP) 包括受性别、年龄和肥胖等因素影响的软组织的形态测量和形态排列组合。众所周知，HP 疼痛和跟腱炎包括不适、疼痛和肿胀症状，这些症状通常由过度的身体活动（如步行、跳跃和跑步）引起。本研究的目的是开发生物力学技术来评估 HP 的功能和特性。十名健康参与者（五名男性和五名女性）参加了这项基于实验室的研究，每个人都进行了两脚后跟抬高，以模拟人类运动过程中的脚趾离地阶段。二十六（3 毫米）逆反射标记连接到左右脚后跟（每个脚跟上有 13 个标记）。使用与测力板同步的 3D 运动分析相机捕获运动学数据。本研究使用了描述性和多变量统计检验。此外，本研究还开发并使用了一种生物力学技术，该技术仅利用 26 个标记中的 6 个标记来评估 HP 变形和功能。男性右脚跟最外侧部分的整体 HP 位移显着更高（p < 0.05)。在基线、卸载和加载阶段比较非优势和优势足跟时没有明显差异（p >0.05）。这项研究的结果表明，生物力学输出表示为跟踪 HP 标记运动的衍生物，可以在形态学和形态测量学上表征 HP 软组织变形变化。这项研究的结果强调了 3D 运动分析被用作量化脚跟垫软组织的功能/特征的潜在前瞻性干预的重要性。