Abstract
BackgroundAs the most common form of movement, walking happens not only on flat but also on uneven surfaces, where constant loss and regaining of balance occur. The main balancing function of the ankle joint is performed by tibial muscles. When changing inclination in a frontal plane, an essential balancing function is performed by the peroneal muscles. One of the methods for improving the activity of peroneal muscles is walking with different foot placement. The objective of this study was to analyze the activity of the peroneal muscles when performing different types of walking.MethodsSixteen healthy participants took part in this study, walking on a flat surface (NORM), on a medial incline ramp with the plantar surface of the foot fully placed on the surface (FULL), and on a medial incline ramp with elevated lateral part of the foot (LAT). We monitored the changes of EMG signals in peroneus longus (PL), peroneus brevis (PB), tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SOL), gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) muscles. We monitored kinematic parameters (gait speed, stride length, contact time, foot position). The parametric ANOVA test and a non-parametric Friedman test were used at an alpha level of 0.05.ResultsThis study shows that the EMG activities of peroneal muscles increases when walking on the medial incline ramp. Statistically significant EMG differences were observed in the peroneal muscles, TA and GL muscles. We observe a very high percentage of normalized EMG value of the PL muscle in LAT walking. Walking on a medial incline ramp impacts the foot position, contact time, and stride length but not the gait speed.ConclusionsWalking on a medial incline ramp could be an effective exercise to improve the neuro-muscular function of the peroneal muscles and, therefore, might be a suitable exercise for people with weakened ankle evertors.
Highlights
As the most common form of movement, walking happens on flat and on uneven surfaces, where constant loss and regaining of balance occur
The objective of this study was to determine the differences in the EMG activity of the peroneal muscles (PB and peroneus longus (PL)) in normal walking (NORM), walking on a medial incline ramp (30° incline) when the full plantar surface of the foot is placed on the surface (FULL) and walking with the elevated lateral part of the foot (LAT)
Significant differences were obtained in stride length, contact time and foot roll (F (2,14) = 46.7, p < 0.001; F (2,14) = 12.1, p < 0.01; χ2 (2) = 20.7, p < 0.001; respectively)
Summary
As the most common form of movement, walking happens on flat and on uneven surfaces, where constant loss and regaining of balance occur. To avoid the possibility of further injury in the direction of the inversion during walking, the peroneal muscles need resistance through the increase of torque in the direction of ankle eversion This can be achieved by adding a weight to the dorsal-lateral side of the foot in an attempt to increase co-activation of peroneal muscles and TA, and to stabilize the ankle [24]. When searching for suitable exercises for strengthening ankle evertors that are simple to use, accessible and without the use of any load, walking on a medial incline ramp with an elevated lateral part of the foot may be a promising method to increase the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the peroneal muscles
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