International scientific consensus on medical plantar pressure measurement devices: technical requirements and performance

background: since 2006, the italian national institute of health (iss) has been conducting independent scientific activities to standardize the technical assessment of plantar pressure measurement devices (pmds). material and methods: on the basis of the iss results, in 2010 the pedobarographic group of the international foot and ankle biomechanics community (i-fab-pg) promoted a consensus activity about the main technical requirements for the appropriate use of pmds. the activity relied on a moodlebased on-line forum, documents exchange, discussions, reviews, meetings and a final survey. results: the participation of clinical and technical researchers, users, and manufacturers, contributed to the delivery of the hereby reported recommendations which specifically regard medical pmds in the form of platforms. conclusions: the i-fab-pg community reached overall agreement on the recommendations, with a few minor objections which are reported and commented in the document. relevance: the present document, the highest result achievable within a small scientific community, will hopefully represent the starting point of the wider process of establishing official international guidelines or standards, within scientific communities and standardization organizations.