{"id":3591,"date":"2026-10-22T15:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T03:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/footworklab.net\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T03:17:25","slug":"dynamic-pressure-mapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footworklab.net\/fr\/news\/3591\/","title":{"rendered":"Dynamic Pressure Mapping in Daily Practice: Set-up, Sessions and Reading the Map"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About the author<\/strong> \u2014 FOOTWORK LAB is a manufacturer of foot assessment equipment and custom orthotic insoles, based in Ruichang, Jiangxi Province, China. Founded in 2014, with its own production plant since 2018. Certified to European Union and ISO quality system standards. See the factory<\/a> or view certification<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A standing pressure map shows where the weight is; a dynamic map shows what the foot does with it.<\/strong> That difference sounds academic until the first client whose standing map looks unremarkable and whose walking map does not. Load that appears evenly spread in a single frame can concentrate for a fraction of a second during a step, and the moment it happens is usually the moment the practitioner wants to discuss. Dynamic pressure mapping is the practice of recording that sequence rather than a snapshot, and the practical difficulty is not the equipment. It is the routine around it.<\/p>\n

This article is about the routine. It covers what a dynamic capture adds to a standing one, how to set up a capture area that produces usable recordings, the session protocol that makes two visits comparable, the order in which to read a map so that the reading is repeatable, the artefacts that produce confident nonsense, and how to use the recording in a consultation without turning it into a performance. It is written for clinics that already own a system and for those specifying one, and it assumes the reader has seen a pressure map before.<\/p>\n

We build these systems, including the F5-LAB platform used here as the example, so the advice is not disinterested. It is, however, the advice we give to clinics that buy from us, including the parts about what the recording cannot tell them.<\/p>\n

What the word dynamic adds<\/h2>\n

A standing capture is a single frame taken while the client is still. It answers a static question: with weight evenly distributed, where does the sole meet the ground and where does the load sit? That is a useful question with a short answer, and it is easy to standardise, which is why it is the right baseline for most practices.<\/p>\n

A dynamic capture records a sequence as the client walks across the surface. Instead of one frame, the system produces a series of them, so the report can show when each region of the sole first takes load, how long it keeps it, where the peak sits at each moment, and how the load leaves the foot at the end of stance. The same foot that looks flat and evenly loaded standing can be shown loading its medial side late in stance, or spending longer on one region than the other side does.<\/p>\n

The second addition is the path of the centre of pressure over time. In standing it is a point; over a step it becomes a line, and the shape of that line summarises how the foot rolls from the lateral heel toward the toes. A line that turns sharply, stalls, or runs further medially than expected is a compact way to describe a movement pattern that would take several sentences to put into words.<\/p>\n

The third addition is symmetry over a stride rather than a stance. Comparing left and right while standing is a comparison of two static shapes. Comparing them across a step includes timing, and timing differences are often what a client feels as unevenness without being able to describe it. None of this makes the recording a conclusion. It makes it a description with a time axis, which is what a walking foot requires.<\/p>\n

Setting up the capture area<\/h2>\n

The capture area is a workflow decision before it is a technical one. A dynamic recording needs a run-up and a run-out, because a client who starts on the surface or stops immediately after it produces a step that is not representative. In practice that means a corridor or a clear length of room, with the platform placed so that the client can walk several steps before and after it without turning, stopping or sidestepping a chair.<\/p>\n

Our F5-LAB platform is built around a walking and running surface, and the installation question is the same one that applies to any dynamic system: where does the client come from, where do they go, and can they do it without thinking about the equipment. A capture area that requires the client to aim at the surface will produce aimed steps. The strongest layouts make the platform an ordinary part of the floor, so the client walks over it on the way to somewhere else.<\/p>\n

Lighting and the camera matter where the system includes posture capture. The camera needs to see the client’s lower limb and body without a chair, a bag or a colleague in the way, and it needs consistent light, because a change in lighting between visits changes what the camera records even when the client has not changed at all. A mark on the floor for foot placement at the start of the walk is worth more than it sounds, particularly when more than one practitioner uses the room.<\/p>\n

Then the checks that should happen before the first client of the day rather than during the appointment: the surface is clean and dry, the software is running the current version, the camera view is unobstructed, and a known subject produces a sensible recording. Our connected units receive over-the-air updates, which is convenient and also a reason to check the software state at the start of a session rather than in the middle of one.<\/p>\n

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FOOTWORK LAB FX custom orthotic insoles. Product photography of our own output; specifications are confirmed in writing before an order.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The session: a protocol that makes maps comparable<\/h2>\n

Comparability is created by repetition, not by the machine. Decide how many passes constitute a recording, how the client is instructed, what footwear condition applies, and where in the appointment the capture happens. Write it down. The protocol does not have to match anyone else’s; it has to match the one used at the last visit, which is a different requirement and a stricter one.<\/p>\n

Instruction is the largest single source of variation. “Walk normally” produces a different gait in every room, because clients interpret it differently: some slow down to be careful, some lengthen their stride, some watch their feet. A better instruction describes the destination rather than the gait, for example asking the client to walk to a point at the far end of the room at the pace they would use to cross a familiar room. Then say nothing during the capture. A client who is being watched walks differently from one who is walking.<\/p>\n

Footwear condition should be set once and recorded. Most baseline work is barefoot or in socks, because that is the condition in which the foot can be observed without the shoe’s contribution. Where the clinic wants to compare a shoe or an insole, the comparison is between two recordings taken in the same session with the same instruction, not between a barefoot baseline and a shod follow-up. Mixing conditions across visits produces differences that belong to the shoe rather than to the client.<\/p>\n

Position in the appointment matters as much as any of this. A capture taken after twenty minutes of standing, or after a footwear trial, or at the end of a long day, will differ from one taken at the start. Pick a point and keep it: most practices capture before any intervention, describe the client’s state in the notes, and repeat at the same point at the next visit. Warm-up deserves a sentence in the protocol too. A first pass is often slower and more guarded than the third, which is why some protocols discard the first pass and record the ones that follow.<\/p>\n

Reading the map in order<\/h2>\n

A dynamic report contains more information than a consultation can absorb, so the reading needs an order. Start with the sequence of contact: which part of the sole takes load first, and whether that order is the same on both sides. A heel that arrives late, a forefoot that lands before the heel, or a midfoot that never clearly loads are all descriptions that a client can follow, and each one raises a question worth asking in the examination.<\/p>\n

Then the duration. For each region, how long does load stay there, and how does that compare with the other side? Duration is often more informative than magnitude, because it describes how the foot spends its time rather than how hard it presses at one instant. A region that carries moderate load for a long time and a region that carries high load briefly are different stories, and a single peak figure cannot distinguish them.<\/p>\n

Then the peak, read by location rather than by size. Where is the highest reading, at what point in the step does it occur, and is it in the same place on both feet? A peak that moves between passes is a sign of variability, not a finding. A peak that appears consistently in the same place across passes is worth describing.<\/p>\n

Then the path of the centre of pressure, and finally the symmetry summary. The path should be read as a shape: where it starts, how straight it runs through the middle of stance, and where it ends. Put together, the four readings describe a walking foot in a way that a practitioner can state in a few sentences and a client can understand. That is the test of a good reading: it can be said out loud without a screen.<\/p>\n

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FOOTWORK LAB FX custom orthotic insoles. Product photography of our own output; specifications are confirmed in writing before an order.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Artefacts that produce confident nonsense<\/h2>\n

The most common artefact is pace. A client who slows down to be careful on an unfamiliar surface spends longer in stance, and the map that results describes a cautious walk rather than an ordinary one. The same client walking at their normal pace may produce a visibly different recording. This is why the instruction should point at a destination rather than at the equipment, and why a practitioner should watch the client’s approach as well as the screen.<\/p>\n

The second is the edge. A step that lands partly off the surface produces a truncated contact area and a peak that looks alarming because part of the load was never recorded. Software that flags partial steps helps, but the operator’s eye helps more: watch the feet, not only the report. The third is the start and the finish. A client who begins the walk on the surface or stops immediately after it produces a step that is unlike the rest, and a protocol that keeps the first and last pass is keeping the two least representative recordings in the set.<\/p>\n

The fourth is fatigue. A recording taken at the end of a long appointment describes a tired client, which may be exactly what the practitioner wants to know and is not what the baseline was. Note the state. The fifth is the surface itself: dust, moisture, a raised cable, a mat that has shifted slightly during the day. A dynamic system is a floor-level instrument, and floors collect things. A daily check takes less time than explaining an odd report.<\/p>\n

The sixth artefact is the operator. Two practitioners using different instructions, different numbers of passes and different starting points will produce two datasets that cannot be compared, even on the same machine in the same room. This is a training issue rather than a technical one, and it is why a written protocol with a short refresher for new staff is worth more than an extra software feature.<\/p>\n

Using the recording in the consultation and across visits<\/h2>\n

In the consultation, the recording is a communication tool as much as an assessment one. A client who can see the sequence of their own step understands a description of timing in a way that a verbal explanation rarely achieves. The discipline is to show one thing at a time: the order of contact, or the duration, or the path. A screen full of simultaneous colour maps invites the client to look at the brightest patch and draw their own conclusion, which is usually not the conclusion the practitioner intended.<\/p>\n

Across visits, the recording is a comparison, and the comparison should be planned before it is needed. Capture at the same point in the appointment, with the same instruction, the same footwear condition and the same number of passes, and store the conditions alongside the file. When a client returns after a change in footwear or after a new pair of insoles, a second recording taken under the same protocol answers a specific question: what changed in the loading sequence? The answer may be nothing, and that is also useful.<\/p>\n

What the comparison cannot answer is whether the change matters. A shift in the map is a description of a different movement pattern, not evidence of a better one. That judgement depends on what the client reports, what the examination shows, and what the practitioner intended. Keeping the two kinds of information in separate sections of the record is the simplest way to prevent a later reader from confusing them.<\/p>\n

The last practical point is archive hygiene. Store the recording with the client identifier and the date, keep the protocol version with it, and export anything that matters to a practice-level backup. A dynamic dataset that exists only inside one installation of one software package is a memory of a session, not a record of a client, and the difference becomes obvious the first time the software is replaced.<\/p>\n

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FOOTWORK LAB FX custom orthotic insoles. Product photography of our own output; specifications are confirmed in writing before an order.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
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What does a dynamic capture show that a standing capture does not?<\/h3>\n

Timing. A standing capture shows where load sits in one frame; a dynamic capture shows the order in which regions take load, how long each keeps it, how the centre of pressure travels, and how the two sides compare across a step.<\/p>\n

How many passes should we record?<\/h3>\n

Enough to see whether a pattern repeats, and the number should be constant in your protocol so that visits remain comparable. Most practices discard the first pass, because a client’s first crossing of an unfamiliar surface is usually slower and more guarded.<\/p>\n

Barefoot or in shoes?<\/h3>\n

Most baseline work is barefoot or in socks, because that is the condition in which the foot can be observed without the shoe’s contribution. If you compare a shoe or an insole, record both conditions in the same session under the same instruction.<\/p>\n

How much floor space does a dynamic system need?<\/h3>\n

Enough for a run-up and a run-out, so that the client walks several steps before and after the surface without turning or stopping. We confirm the layout against your room before delivery rather than asking you to work from a drawing.<\/p>\n

Can two practitioners share one system?<\/h3>\n

Yes, provided they share one protocol: the same instruction, the same number of passes, the same footwear condition and the same point in the appointment. Without that, two datasets from the same machine cannot be compared.<\/p>\n

Is the data comparable between visits?<\/h3>\n

Only if the routine is repeated. Same protocol, same position in the appointment, same conditions, recorded in the notes. Differences that appear in one reading should be read as noise until they show up in more than one.<\/p>\n

What support comes with the F5-LAB platform?<\/h3>\n

Every unit is tested for seven days before it leaves the factory and carries a twelve-month warranty on non-human damage with free replacement parts. Support runs through a dedicated WhatsApp group with direct access to our engineers, remote assistance where the site allows it, and over-the-air updates for connected units.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What we would do next<\/h2>\n

If you are setting up dynamic capture, write the protocol before you choose the room. Send us the walkway you have, the number of practitioners who will use it, and the point in the appointment where the capture will sit, and we will tell you which layout works and which does not. The F5-LAB platform page<\/a> covers the configuration used for walking and running recordings, our guide to reading a plantar pressure map<\/a> explains the readings in more detail, and the article on clinical biomechanics in practice<\/a> is a useful companion on where measurement stops. For commercial terms, the FAQ page<\/a> covers minimum order, warranty and shipping.<\/p>\n

This article is intended for professional and educational reference. It is not medical advice. Foot assessment equipment produces measurements and images; clinical interpretation and any decision about care remain the responsibility of a qualified professional. Certification scope is limited to the documentation we hold: European Union certification and ISO quality system certification.<\/em><\/p>\n

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