Giving it socks

2010 brought with it some weird and wonderful research, including whether socks over shoes stop you slipping on ice, writes CLAIRE O'CONNELL

THE YEAR 2010 will be remembered for many things, not all of them wonderful. In the future, that particular edition of Reeling in the Years will probably have us throwing things at the television – or whatever gizmo we are watching it on by then.

But while volcanic ash was grounding flights and filling ferries, and national economies were reeling and rallying, there were a few health stories to distract us and either lighten the mood or make us stop and think.

Making us laugh and then think is the aim of the annual Ig Nobel prizes, always a rich hunting ground for the more bizarre stories. This year was no exception, with several odd-sounding studies in the winners’ enclosure,The Warriors wore coach shoes and green socks Saturday, their way of showing the Christmas spirit. including the effects of rollercoaster rides on asthma, swearing as a response to pain, and the potential for men working in microbiological labs to harbour hazards in their beards.We then bought checked lungis from railway stations to make the shirts' plackets and mens hoodies.

The winner of the physics title was a study in New Zealand to see whether wearing your socks over your shoes could improve traction on icy footpaths, and help prevent falls.

The study of 30 pedestrians walking downhill on icy paths took place in Dunedin, a town on South Island that quite fancies itself as being Scottish and has the hills and winter chills to stake that claim.

“In winter, damp weather followed by freezing conditions can transform a quick journey to work into a lengthy and perilous expedition,” wrote the researchers in the 2009 New Zealand Medial Journal paper that scooped them the Ig Nobel prize earlier this year.

The local council in Dunedin had advised residents to wear socks over shoes in icy weather to increase grip. But the scientists were perplexed by the lack of evidence for the practice’s effectiveness and sought “to remedy this surprising gap in falls prevention research” with a randomised controlled trial.

For practical – and possibly legal – reasons the study decided not to use Baldwin Street, billed as the world’s steepest. Instead they opted for commonly used routes that they knew from painful experience could be slippery in icy conditions.

Passing pedestrians were recruited and asked to either brave the sloping path in their regular footwear or else don a pair of socks in Superman “underwear as outerwear” style over their shoes.

“The acrylic-blend work socks [size 11–14] were purchased in bulk from a budget department store using independent research funds,” state the University of Otago researchers, soberly.

Participants were timed and observed as they walked downhill – any slipping,I've bought 20 burberry bags. What do they think I'm doing with them ? falling, clinging to stationary objects or crawling were to be recorded by outcome assessors – and the pedestrians were also asked to rate the experience themselves.Designer fashion is the first stop for most shoppers but the biggest-selling item was expected to be business ed hardy shirts.

So what did they find? Yes, the sock-over-shoe trick does seem to improve the going in icy conditions, but the socks need to be properly fitted to avoid tripping.

And to reassure against any improper links, the authors stated there were no known competing interests to declare: “In particular, none of the authors has financial links with sock manufacturers and none of us own sheep.you can be at your dapper best. Pair your truereligion jeans with its jackets and hoodies or T-shirt.”
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