"Ankle injuries, especially ligamentous injuries or sprains, continue to be the most common injury sustained by athletes. A large percent of sports-related injuries occur in the ankle complex therefore there is significant interest in understanding the causal mechanisms that are associated with these injuries. Structural properties of footwear and footwear interaction with various surfaces can affect the probability of an injury. Recently a surrogate lower leg was developed by our laboratory and used to assess rotational traction for different football cleats with a variety of football field surfaces. Additionally our lab has conducted human cadaver experiments to assess ankle injury and rotational traction. Research has indicated that increased rotational traction at the shoe-surface interface increases the probability of a ligamentous injury, specifically to the tibiofibular syndesmosis. The thesis details a design method for a surrogate ankle that can be used to test footwear stiffness in various directions. It includes the method for developing a biofidelic skin that covers the foot, ankle, and lower leg of the surrogate. The thesis demonstrates the effective method for manufacturing several of the mechanical components through a casting procedure that included a sand mold produced from a three-dimensional printer. The thesis also demonstrates a validation of the surrogate by ankle stiffness data from in vivo studies using human subjects during normal walking. Finally, experimental stiffness values from a variety of footwear were determined using a multi-axis testing apparatus and evaluated at different lace tensions for multiple motions. The surrogate can be used in future studies to investigate footwear design that may potentially mitigate ankle injury."--Page ii.
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