BIOMECHANICAL TESTING
In the early winter of 2009 Tubbs Snowshoes set out to learn more about how people walk in snowshoes. With a deeply rooted history in biomechanical and ergonomic design, we decided to take our FLEX™ Series snowshoes into a laboratory setting. With great help from the Department of Health & Exercise Science at Colorado State University (CSU), we were able to gain enormous insight into human locomotion on snowshoes.
The study was conducted by Dr. Ray Browning, an assistant professor in the Department of Health & Exercise Science at CSU, and the purpose was to determine the effects of snowshoe frame design on lower extremity kinematics (i.e. movements of the legs) during snowshoe walking. Participants had lightweight inertial sensors attached to their legs to record hip, knee and ankle joint angles as well as other stride characteristics.
The results of the testing revealed important details about how people walk in snowshoes to our Research and Development team, who are all serious snowshoe enthusiasts themselves. Biomechanical research like this gives our engineers new insights while they are out testing and developing new products. The combination of fundamental research and the actual on-snow use gives us results we could never achieve with one of these elements alone.
The testing also revealed valuable information about the Tubbs FLEX Series snowshoes. Our final data suggests that for a given distance between the heel of the foot and the tail of the snowshoe, the FLEX Tail™ design reduces the rate of ankle plantar flexion during early stance (i.e. just after heel strike) compared to other composite snowshoe designs. In other words, for a given snowshoe tail length, the rate at which the forefoot hits the ground after heel strike is slower in FLEX Series snowshoes than on other rigid snowshoes. This may translate into less stress on the muscles, bones and joints in your legs and result in a more comfortable and ergonomic snowshoeing experience.
At Tubbs we look forward to exploring the biomechanics and energetic of snowshoeing further as we strive to design the most ergonomic and comfortable snowshoes on the market.
The research for Tubbs Snowshoes was conducted in part by the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University (CSU). CSU’s research results may not reflect the views of Tubbs Snowshoes.
