The push-off angle is an important factor affecting speed-skating performance. However, quantitative evidence for the relationship between the push-off angle and foot injury is incomplete. This study aimed to establish a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model (FEM) and investigate the mechanical responses of foot structures to stress and strain to explore the relationship between injury and movement. A 3D FEM was reconstructed using CT and 3D scan data and validated by comparing the FEM-predicted and in vivo measurement data in the balanced standing state. A push-off angle obtained from a video of a champion was loaded into the FEM. The error rates of validation were less than 10%. With a decrease in the push-off angle, the stress on the metatarsal increased; the stress on the talus, ankle joint cartilage and plantar fascia decreased, as did the strain on the ankle joint cartilage and plantar fascia. The FEM was considered reasonable. Not all foot structures had an increased risk of injury with a decrease in the push-off angle from 70° to 42°. The FEM established in this study provides a possibility for further determining and quantifying the relationship between foot injury and skating technique.

Ice hockey puck impacts combine high velocity, oblique loading, and spatially variable contact, yet conventional helmet assessments rely primarily on global head kinematics. This study quantified how puck impact velocity, angle, and location affect skull stress and brain tissue strain. A commercially available ice hockey helmet was reconstructed from three-dimensional scans and coupled with the Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) Version 7.1 head model. Helmet response was benchmarked against standardized drop-test data at top, lateral, and rear locations. Eighteen nominal puck-impact conditions combined two velocities (30 and 40 m/s), three angles (0°, 45°, and 60°), and three locations; additional ±10% velocity runs assessed sensitivity. Peak skull von Mises stress (skull stress) and brain maximum principal strain (MPS) were compared descriptively. Benchmark peak linear acceleration differed from reference data by 0.5–5.8%. The greatest skull stress occurred at 40 m/s, 0°, lateral impact (0.556 MPa), whereas the greatest MPS occurred at 40 m/s, 0°, top impact (0.175). These different worst-case locations show that local skull loading and brain tissue deformation are not captured by a single metric. Multi-metric, location-specific evaluation may improve ice hockey helmet assessment and regional optimization.