Effect of shoe wearing time and midsole hardness on ground reaction forces, ankle stability and perceived comfort in basketball landing

This study examined the effect of wearing time on comfort perception and landing biomechanics of basketball shoes with different midsole hardness. Fifteen basketball players performed drop landing and layup first step while wearing shoes of different wearing time (new, 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-week) and hardness (soft, medium and hard). Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was performed on GRF, ankle kinematic and comfort perception variables. Increased wearing time was associated with poorer force attenuation and comfort perception during landing activities (p < 0.05). The new shoes had significantly smaller forefoot (2- and 4-week) and rearfoot peak GRF impacts (all time conditions) in drop landing and smaller rearfoot peak GRF impact (6- and 8-week) in layup; shoes with 4-week of wearing time had significantly better perceptions of forefoot cushioning, forefoot stability, rearfoot cushioning, rearfoot stability and overall comfort than the new shoes (p < 0.05). Compared with hard shoes, the soft shoes had better rearfoot cushioning but poorer forefoot cushioning (p < 0.05). Shoe hardness and wearing time would play an influential role in GRF and comfort perception, but not in ankle kinematics. Although shoe cushioning performance would decrease even after a short wearing period, the best comfort perception was found at 4-week wearing time.