Spatial resolution and peak-pressure-change measurement accuracy

Background It has been suggested that plantar pressures should be measured at ~6.2 mm to accurately characterize local maxima [1], and it has been shown that sensor widths of 10 mm can cause a 30% pressure underestimation at the metatarsal heads [2]. However, these results assume that pressure maxima, not maxima changes, are of primary interest. The purpose of this study was to examine how spatial resolution affects accuracy when measuring local maxima vs. changes in local maxima. Methods and materials A pressure pulse model (Figure 1) was generalized from [2] for force (F) and wavelength (l) as: