Abstract
BackgroundAlthough accumulative evidence exists that support the applicability of multi-segmental foot models (MFMs) in evaluating foot motion in various pathologic conditions, little is known of the effect of aging on inter-segmental foot motion. The objective of this study was to evaluate differences in inter-segmental motion of the foot between older and younger adult healthy females during gait using a MFM with 15-marker set.MethodsOne hundred symptom-free females, who had no radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, were evaluated using MFM with 15-marker set. They were divided into young (n = 50, 20–35 years old) and old (n = 50, 60–69 years old) groups. Coefficients of multiple correlations were evaluated to assess the similarity of kinematic curve. Inter-segmental angles (hindfoot, forefoot, and hallux) were calculated at each gait phase. To evaluate the effect of gait speed on intersegmental foot motion, subgroup analysis was performed according to the similar speed of walking.ResultsKinematic curves showed good or excellent similarity in most parameters. Range of motion in the sagittal (p < 0.001) and transverse (p = 0.001) plane of the hallux, and sagittal (p = 0.023) plane of the forefoot was lower in older females. The dorsiflexion (p = 0.001) of the hallux at terminal stance and pre-swing phases was significantly lower in older females. When we compared young and older females with similar speed, these differences remained.ConclusionsAlthough the overall kinematic pattern was similar between young and older females, reduced range of inter-segmental motion was observed in the older group. Our results suggest that age-related changes need to be considered in studies evaluating inter-segmental motion of the foot.
Highlights
Accumulative evidence exists that support the applicability of multi-segmental foot models (MFMs) in evaluating foot motion in various pathologic conditions, little is known of the effect of aging on intersegmental foot motion
In the last two decades, there have been accumulative evidence supporting that multi-segmental foot models (MFMs) can be applicable to evaluate intersegmental foot motions in various pathologic conditions such as hallux valgus [1, 2], hallux rigidus [3,4,5], flatfoot [6, 7], cavovarus deformity [8], and ankle osteoarthritis [9, 10], gender and age-controlled data obtained from healthy participants would be essential for comparison for evaluation of the effect of specific pathology on gait
Participant characteristics After ruling out 13 participants according to exclusion criteria, a hundred symptom-free females who were tested at the Laboratory of Human Motion Analysis in Seoul National University Hospital were included in this study
Summary
Accumulative evidence exists that support the applicability of multi-segmental foot models (MFMs) in evaluating foot motion in various pathologic conditions, little is known of the effect of aging on intersegmental foot motion. In the last two decades, there have been accumulative evidence supporting that multi-segmental foot models (MFMs) can be applicable to evaluate intersegmental foot motions in various pathologic conditions such as hallux valgus [1, 2], hallux rigidus [3,4,5], flatfoot [6, 7], cavovarus deformity [8], and ankle osteoarthritis [9, 10], gender and age-controlled data obtained from healthy participants would be essential for comparison for evaluation of the effect of specific pathology on gait. Arnold et al recently reported that older adults showed significant differences in foot kinematics compared to younger adults [14] Both men and women were included in that study and number of participants was small (n = 20 per group) considering interpersonal variability of the intersegmental foot motion even in a normal population. In that study, the mean age of older group was 73.2 years and radiographic evaluation was not performed, which cannot exclude the existence of low grade osteoarthritis which may underlie the difference among groups
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