Effect of firefighter boots and viscoelastic insoles on the impact force of the ground reaction force’s vertical component

The aims of the present study were to determine the effect of firefighter's boots on the vertical component of the ground reaction force (GRF) at heel strike, also known as heel strike transient and to analyze the effect of the viscoelastic insoles placed into the firefighter’s boots on this force during the gait. The magnitude of the impact force (FZI) from the vertical ground reaction force, the time to the production of this force (TZI) and the loading rate (GC) were registered. 39 firefighters without any pathology during 2 years before the study were recruited. Three different walking conditions were tested: 1) gait with firefighter's boots, 2) gait with firefighter's boots and viscoelastic insoles and 3) gait with sport shoes. The results showed a higher production and magnitude of the impact force during gait with firefighter's boots than during gait with sport shoes (13,1 vs. 2,6 % of occurrence of the impact force and 61,39 ± 35,18 %BW (body weight) vs. 49,38 ± 22,99 %BW, respectively). The gait with viscoelastic insoles placed into the firefighter's boots did not show significant differences in any of the parameters characterizing the impact force compared to the gait without insoles. The results of this study show a lower cushioning of the impact force during the gait with firefighter's boots in comparison to the gait with sport shoes and the inefficiency of the viscoelastic insoles placed inside the firefighter's boots to ameliorate the cushioning of the impact force at natural walking speed.

PARQUE NACIONAL BARRA HONDA: VALORACIÓN DEL DESARROLLO TURÍSTICO Y UTILIZACIÓN DE SUS ATRACTIVOS

La mayoría de áreas protegidas en Costa Rica fueron creadas considerando básicamente enfoques de conservación. Sin embargo, el desarrollo turístico reciente ha forzado a considerar la importancia de actividades turísticas dentro de las áreas silvestres especialmente en los más conocidos parques nacionales como Barra Honda. Este Artículo evalúa los diferentes atractivos determinando algunas recomendaciones, con el objetivo de mejorar las actividades recreativas en este parque.Abstracts: The majority of the protected areas in Costa Rica were created considering basically conservation approach. However, the last tourism development of the country has had forced to consider the importance of tourism activities inside of the Wildland, especially the most well know national parks like Barra Honda. This article evaluated the different natural attractive of parks, its conditions. Also it offer a plan management the attractive presenting some recommendation in order to improve the outdoor activities in the park.