Work being done to develop winter tires for feet

Toronto - Researchers in Toronto are trying to find a way to reduce the number of falls on ice. They are trying to develop what they are calling winter tires for feet.

Researchers at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute are spending some of the warm summer weather inside a cold lab to find out more about why and how people fall in winter, and trying to find ways that footwear could be designed to help prevent falls. CBC News reported that Jennifer Hsu, a PhD candidate in biomedical and mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, is focusing on falls by postal workers because they work outside in all conditions and often lose work time because of injuries suffered in falls. One of the things she is studying is the cleats Canada Post provides for mail carriers. The temperature in the climate-controlled lab can be set from –20 C to 35 C. Warmly dressed volunteers in the lab walk over walkways are designed to imitate surfaces such as steep ramps and stairs, while sensors record their movements. A safety harness is used so that they are not actually injured. Hsu is also compating how people walk in different types of footwear. Research shows that most falls take place when it is about 0 C outside and a thin layer of water forms or after a thick layer of snow falls on top of ice It is estimated the injuries due to falls cost the Canadian health care system about $2.8 billion a year. Hsu is doing her research with the help of an Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board grant.