Parametric 3D CAD model of human foot

The parametric 3D CAD model of human foot was developed from CT data. A CT (Toshiba® Aquilion 4 equipment) scan was performed on a 29 years old male (65 Kg). 345 slices were captured with a slice distance of 1.0 mm (see Figure 2.a). Scans were made for both feet in their neutral posture in which there is the least tension or pressure on tendons, muscles and bones. Medical images were, then, exported into standard .DICOM format (image resolution 512x512 pixels) and processed by using ScanIP® and SolidWorks.

Bone structure was composed of 19 bones: tibia, fibula, talus, calcaneus, cuboid, navicular, 3 cuneiforms (bones of the metatarsus), 5 metatarsals (bones of the metatarsus) and 5 components of the phalanges (bones of the toes). Phalange bones (a proximal and a distal phalanx for the great toe; proximal, middle and distal phalanges for the second to fifth toes) were fused together since their relative motion do not affect plantar pressures.

More details can be found in the publications below:

Franciosa, P., Gerbino S., From CT Scan to Plantar Pressure Map Distribution of a 3D Anatomic Human Foot, in Proc. of COMSOL Conference’10, Paris (France), November 17-19, 2010.

Franciosa, P., Gerbino, S., Lanzotti A., Silvestri L., Improving Comfort of Shoe Sole through Experiments based on CAD-FEM Modeling, Medical Engineering and Physics, doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2012.03.007, 2013.