{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T23:30:26Z","timestamp":1782775826818,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,16]],"date-time":"2025-08-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755302400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program","award":["20007058"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20007058"]}]},{"name":"Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program","award":["1711174527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1711174527"]}]},{"name":"Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program","award":["RS-2022-00140621"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2022-00140621"]}]},{"name":"Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety","award":["20007058"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20007058"]}]},{"name":"Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety","award":["1711174527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1711174527"]}]},{"name":"Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety","award":["RS-2022-00140621"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2022-00140621"]}]},{"name":"Chung-Ang University Research Scholarship Grants","award":["20007058"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20007058"]}]},{"name":"Chung-Ang University Research Scholarship Grants","award":["1711174527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1711174527"]}]},{"name":"Chung-Ang University Research Scholarship Grants","award":["RS-2022-00140621"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2022-00140621"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biomimetics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Acute ankle sprains frequently lead to chronic ankle instability and muscle atrophy by causing immobilization, which necessitates real-time stiffness modulation for ankle\u2013foot orthoses (AFOs). This paper proposes Active Variable Compression Shoes (AVC-Shoes), an ankle support system inspired by the \u201cheel-lock taping\u201d technique, which employs a wire\u2013fabric compression mechanism to selectively stiffen ankle joints at crucial points in the gait cycle. The experimental results confirmed that AVC-Shoes achieve variable ankle stiffness in all directions, demonstrating dorsiflexion and plantarflexion stiffness ranges of up to 8.3 and 5.9 Nm\/rad, respectively. Additionally, preliminary human testing involving three healthy participants revealed that the gastrocnemius muscle activity during the push-off phase in the active compression mode was significantly higher (by 19%) than that in the brace mode. By selectively increasing stiffness at heel strikes, AVC-Shoes represent a promising advancement toward next-generation AFOs capable of stabilizing the ankle while preventing muscle atrophy, which is associated with prolonged brace use.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biomimetics10080539","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T15:34:53Z","timestamp":1755531293000},"page":"539","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Low-Profile, Shoe-Type Ankle\u2013Foot Orthosis with Active Variable Ankle Stiffness via Wire\u2013Fabric Compression Mechanism"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Eunbin","family":"Choe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junyoung","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HUROTICS Inc., Seoul 06912, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jaewook","family":"Ryu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seungtae","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HUROTICS Inc., Seoul 06912, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alireza","family":"Nasirzadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sejin","family":"Kong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D Center, LS Networks Co., Ltd., Seoul 04386, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Youngsuk","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D Center, LS Networks Co., Ltd., Seoul 04386, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9414-4475","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuk","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"HUROTICS Inc., Seoul 06912, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1177\/036354657700500606","article-title":"The frequency of injury, mechanism of injury, and epidemiology of ankle sprains","volume":"5","author":"Garrick","year":"1977","journal-title":"Am. 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