Effects of short foot exercises with ultrasound bio-feedback on motor learning and foot alignment: A double blinded randomized control trial.

Abstract

Short foot exercises (SFE) take a long time to master and require a feedback tool to improve motor learning. This study aimed to investigate the effect of bio-feedback of talonavicular joint movements in learning SFE with ultrasound (US) imaging. This study included thirty-one healthy volunteers and was designed as a double-blind randomized control trial. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the control group, which performed SFE under verbal instruction, and the US bio-feedback (USBF) group, which performed SFE with real-time bio-feedback of the talonavicular joint alignment. All subjects underwent two sessions of 5 minutes each, and SFE was performed as a self-exercise, between sessions, for one week. The difference in foot length and navicular height were assessed at baseline, after Session1, before Session2, and one week after Session2. These differences were compared between the two groups using the Mann-Whitney U test. In terms of navicular height change, the USBF group (7.5 ± 4.3 mm) was significantly higher than the control group (4.2 ± 3.3 mm) one week after session 2 (p= 0.04, effect size = 0.86). SFE with USBF is an effective intervention for performing SFE.