What is Noeh?

Noeh emerged from a Master degree study about how toddler’s feet develop while learning to walk and how different surfaces interfere with it.

Bearing in mind that the best thing for toddlers is to walk barefoot on natural ground, we developed a product that simulates the natural materials which replicate walking barefoot, Noeh.

Noeh emerged from a Master degree study about how toddler’s feet develop while learning to walk and how different surfaces interfere with it.

Bearing in mind that the best thing for toddlers is to walk barefoot on natural ground, we developed a product that simulates the natural materials which replicate walking barefoot, Noeh.

History

Noeh emerged from a Master degree study about how toddler’s feet develop while learning to walk and how different surfaces interfere with the natural development.

​We evolved to walk on a natural surface, irregular and dynamic such as the ground, grass, sand, etc. This type of surface is naturally unstable, this causes our feet to activate all its muscles to be balanced, therefore all our musculoskeletal systems activate as well. However, there was a little more than 100 years that we’ve learned to walk on paved surfaces, flat and hard, and we use shoes that may not be ideal either.

​Inadequate shoes and floors can interfere negatively with toddler’s feet development, bringing future abnormalities. Our feet are our base, a weak base jeopardizes all body structure. The ideal for a baby to develop a healthy gait and feet is to walk barefoot on a natural surface, like grass, ground, sand, etc. But, we have to think of the urban babies, how they can improve their development?

To take care of the little feet allowing them to grow healthily, Noeh designed baby shoes that simulate the natural ground and don’t interfere with the barefoot pattern. Bearing in mind that the ideal is to walk barefoot on a natural surface, Noeh provides your baby a mini natural ground with the same barefoot gait, providing to your baby a protected barefoot gait on any surfaces.

Creating long last effects one step at a time!

Why Noeh?

Noeh is take care of life, of nature, of life in pairs. It means comfort, long life.

We wish longevity, comfort and health to our babies respecting nature and our pairs!

Who is behind Noeh

Noeh was developed by Anamê, a Design Institute focused on the first 1000 days of infants, we design products with scientific bases. In this project, Anamê, coordinated by Ana Paula Lage, designer and researcher, worked with PHD professionals  and postPHD professionals to develop Noeh. Experts in shoe designing, polymer engineering and mechanical engineering, biomedicine, neuroscience, kinesiology, rehabilitation and physiotherapy researched together to provide a trully beneficial product for toddlers.

The Research

Two pieces of scientific information among many others were crucial to start the research that create Noeh. The first affirms more than 70% of children achieve 7 years, when the development of the foot structure finishes, with abnormalities in their feet, since common phatologies as a flatfoot, until complex diseases, being only 2% born with any phatology. Therefore, the majority of problems are caused by an inadequate development. The second affirms that people from unpaved regions and with low financial resources have minimal incidence of flatfeet  and foot bone abnormalities.

​So, after researching the factors that can interfere with feet development, we went through many steps to create a mini natural ground in a shoe that doesn’t change the toddler’s gait, assisting the  feet’s grow healthy, and consequently, all the musculoskeletal system.

​We analyzed the behavior of the natural materials when we step on them and we did several tests on many materials to choose what material behaved the best in the Laboratory of Polymers and Composites of Federal University of Minas Gerais. The test verified absorption of impact and sweat, compression and deformation, among others, to verify the similarity with the natural ground and to be the most comfortable for the baby.

​An anthropometric analysis was made in 24 babies’ feet of 1 to 24 months to understand what are the standard measures of the baby’s feet to construct the shoelast of Noeh.

​To verify the efficacy of Noeh, some of PhD Physiotherapists, post PhD in Kinesiology, Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering performed gait analysis and muscle electromyography with 21 babies (11 to 17 months) at the beginning of gait acquisition and they verified that Noeh doesn’t change the pattern of the toddlers’ gait. The biomechanics of walking has the same pattern when the toddler is using Noeh or is barefoot, witch doesn’t occur with common shoes existing on the market.

We found that common shoes, from the analysis of 14 baby shoe brands, change the gait, these types of shoes result in a faster walk, with bigger steps, with more knee and ankle’s movement than barefoot gait. No one knows the result of these modifications long term, it could be an unhealthy factor or maybe triggers future diseases. Shoes should be designed based on barefoot biomechanics. Noeh performs an important function of doing a baby’s usual task, weather walking barefoot or wearing footwear, a baby’s gait will remain the same.

The experience is crucial in the evolution of toddler’s natural pattern gait in the first months of independent walk. The baby is in constantly change, by it self, he needs to continually adapt to variations of size, weight, balance, etc. Therefore, a shoe for a baby needs to not just have one variation factor. So, Noeh works for a toddler as protection to the barefoot ideal.