The footwear needs and preferences of adults over 55 years of age participating in court sports
dc.contributor.author | Reeves, J | |
dc.contributor.author | Williams, A | |
dc.contributor.author | Dixon, S | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-02-05T11:29:48Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-10-26 | |
dc.date.updated | 2024-02-05T07:20:02Z | |
dc.description.abstract | Court sports like tennis are popular with older adults and important for maintaining physical and mental health. Footwear can influence player experience and injury risk in sports. Previous preliminary work using interviews and focus groups identified key themes regarding comfort (including cushioning), functionality (including a wide width) and choice (including appearance) that are important aspects of footwear for older adults. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes towards athletic footwear and the footwear features considered important in older adults playing court sports across the population. An online survey was conducted of older adults in the UK/Ireland who participated in court sports at least once a week. Questionnaire items included descriptive information on age, gender, playing level and sport played and Likert item questions regarding attitudes and important footwear features. Using a mixed methods approach, percentage agreement and importance was combined with qualitative comments. Comfort, appropriate grip, good cushioning and overall support were all important for over 95% of respondents. Width, durability and reducing the likelihood of injury were also important to over 80% of respondents. Around 20% of female participants agreed they had difficulty in purchasing sports shoes with their desired aesthetics compared to around 10% of male participants. Some women reported needing to buy men’s shoes for adequate width, while 12% of respondents reported wearing non-specific footwear like running shoes, often for extra cushioning or to avoid foot pain, which could put them at greater risk of injuries such as ankle sprains. It would appear the athletic footwear industry in the UK/Ireland could do more to improve player comfort and safety of older adults in court sports. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Published online 26 October 2023 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1080/19424280.2023.2267531 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | ES/V009613/1 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/135241 | |
dc.identifier | ORCID: 0000-0002-3127-566X (Dixon, Sharon) | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Taylor & Francis | en_GB |
dc.rights | © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work | en_GB |
dc.subject | Footwear | en_GB |
dc.subject | racket sports | en_GB |
dc.subject | tennis | en_GB |
dc.subject | badminton | en_GB |
dc.subject | active ageing | en_GB |
dc.title | The footwear needs and preferences of adults over 55 years of age participating in court sports | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2024-02-05T11:29:48Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1942-4280 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1942-4299 | |
dc.identifier.journal | Footwear Science | en_GB |
dc.relation.ispartof | Footwear Science, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print) | |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en_GB |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2023-09-19 | |
rioxxterms.version | VoR | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2023-10-26 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2024-02-05T11:28:09Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | VoR | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2024-02-05T11:29:55Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |
refterms.dateFirstOnline | 2023-10-26 |
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work