Our Mission
“iFAB is driven by the desire to improve our understanding of foot and ankle biomechanics as it applies to health, disease, and the design, development and evaluation of foot and ankle surgery, and interventions such as footwear and insoles/orthotics.”
iFAB is an international collaborative community of all those interested in foot and ankle biomechanics. Launched in 2007 we now have over 800 members worldwide and have brought together over 1000 people through our meeting activities.
The Foot
The foot and ankle represent one of the most complex mechanical structures in the human body, consisting of multiple joints, bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments that work together to support locomotion. Understanding this system requires advanced experimental biomechanics, computational modeling, and engineering approaches.
Mission
iFAB activities seek to enable more effective approaches to researching the foot and ankle, accelerate our ability to address the unique challenges that the foot and ankle pose for biomechanics researchers, health care professionals and industry, and foster seamless activities between researchers and research users.
The International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community (iFAB) is an international collaborative activity which will have an important impact on the foot and ankle biomechanics community. It was launched on July 2nd 2007 at the foot and ankle session of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) meeting in Taipei, Taiwan.
Promoting the Scientific Value of Biomechanics
A central mission of iFAB is to promote the scientific value of biomechanics research. By bridging the gap between laboratory findings and applied solutions, iFAB ensures that:
- Footwear and orthotics industries integrate research-based designs.
- Motion capture and modeling technologies are applied to sports and performance analysis.
- Engineering and biomechanics inform next-generation implants and materials.
This close connection between science and application positions iFAB as a leading force in the field.
What we do
By showcasing biomechanics at international meetings, conferences, and collaborative events, we ensure that foot and ankle research gains recognition across disciplines, and we increase visibility of biomechanics research in academic, clinical, and industrial communities.
iFAB provides a platform where universities, sports science labs, orthopaedic engineers, and footwear companies can exchange knowledge. We promote the scientific value of foot and ankle biomechanics to research users, including footwear designers, orthotics manufacturers, sports performance experts, and surgical innovators.
We actively connect biomechanists, engineers, podiatrists, orthopaedic specialists, and computational modelers, ensuring new discoveries have maximum reach. We coordinate international research to address the complex challenges of experimental and computational biomechanics, and encourage collaboration between biomechanics, engineering, podiatry, orthopaedics, sports science, and industry.
Through the biannual iFAB Meeting and partnerships with major biomechanics societies, we amplify the scientific importance of foot and ankle research worldwide.
How do we do this?
One of the core initiatives of iFAB is its biannual meeting, an international gathering designed to showcase cutting-edge biomechanics research; build bridges between academia, industry, and applied practice; foster connections between disciplines that traditionally might not intersect; and highlight biomechanics in new regions and territories.
Beyond its meeting, iFAB also organizes and contributes to sessions at major international conferences such as the Footwear Biomechanics Group, International Society of Biomechanics, World Council of Biomechanics, and EFAS.
This is an open community – if you have an idea for a new initiative that can further our aims please contact us via email