The goal of this interventional study is to learn how different types of footwear affect gait, stability, comfort, and walking performance in adults with a unilateral transtibial amputation who use a lower limb prosthesis.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
* Does footwear type affect gait characteristics such as gait speed, stride length, cadence, prosthetic foot clearance, and stance phase duration?
* Does footwear type affect kinetic measures such as ground reaction forces and ankle power variables during walking?
* Does footwear type affect in-shoe plantar pressure distribution?
* Do participants perceive differences in comfort and stability between footwear conditions?
Participants will:
* Attend a laboratory-based gait analysis session at the University of Salford.
* Complete walking tasks while wearing four footwear conditions: their own preferred footwear, an Oxford shoe, a running/walking shoe, and a shoe with a forefoot rocker profile.
* Perform straight-line walking, incline and decline walking, and S-shaped walking tasks.
* Wear reflective markers and in-shoe pressure sensors during testing.
* Complete visual analogue scale ratings of comfort and stability for each footwear condition.