"The use of devices such as these is not new. Podiatrists and others have utilized pressure sensing systems for treatment of patients and for research for many. many years. The critical issue, I believe, is in the interpretation of the information generated. As one can get a blood pressure reading in a pharmacy, the information provided by these systems may be clinically useful, or not, depending on who reviews it and is not in itself, diagnostic. The systems cannot specify 'why' such data is observed."
"As a tool for determining where pressure points exist on the foot, the devices clearly signal where these sites exist. But let’s be clear, only a licensed practitioner can take the next step (pardon), to determine why this is the case and whether or not the issue is medically significant."
"In addition, the specific technologies mentioned do not all provide similar information. For example, the AMFIT system is capable of rendering a 3-D image or model of the foot. The other systems you note cannot. This means that decisions may be made based on 2-D imaging supplemented with a 'treatment algorithm' which is, I feel, synonymous with the word approximation. Where these devices are used to produce a product such as a foot orthosis, only a 3-D image of the foot is acceptable, and this can only be obtained through impression casting, 3-D laser scanning, or by using the peg system that AMFIT employs. Production of such a device using pressure sensing technology is at best an approximation."
