A Study on the Contribution of Medial and Lateral Longitudinal Foot Arch to Human Gait.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the contribution of medial longitudinal arch and lateral longitudinal arch in human gait and to study the correlation between foot features and gait characteristics. The foot arch plays a significant role in human movements, and understanding its contribution to spatiotemporal gait parameters is vital in predicting and rectifying gait patterns. To serve the objectives, the study developed a new foot feature measurement system and measured the foot features and spatiotemporal gait parameters of 17 young healthy subjects without any foot structure abnormality. The foot-feature parameters were measured under three movement conditions which were sitting, standing, and one-leg standing conditions. The spatiotemporal gait parameters were measured at three speeds which were fast, preferred, and slow speeds. The correlation study showed that medial longitudinal arch characteristics were found to be associated with temporal gait parameters while lateral longitudinal arch characteristics were found to be associated with spatial gait parameters. The developed system not only eases the burden of manual measuring but also secures accuracy of the collected data. Inviting variety of subjects including athletes and people with abnormal foot structures would extend the scope of this study in the future. The findings of this study break new ground in the field of the foot- and gait-related research work.Clinical Relevance-This study demonstrated that the medial longitudinal arch and lateral longitudinal arch characteristics were related to the temporal and spatial gait parameters, respectively. These underlying findings can be applied to investigate relationships between foot abnormality and gait characteristics.