Plantar pressure changes in normal and pathological foot during bipedal standing

Abstract

Background : Plantar pressure measurement during bipedal standing provides an important information of loading of human body on foot under various postural activities. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to monitor the plantar pressure during bipedal standing in normal and pathological conditions. Use of orthotics in attenuating the peak pressure to distribute it uniformly on plantar surface of the foot was also examined. Methods: The pedobarographs of 66 subjects were recorded using computer assisted indigenously developed optical pedobarograph. The pedobarographs were evaluated using Asha 3-D software developed during present study. Standard size universal orthotics (FootmaxxTM, Canada) was used to determine the effect in attenuating the peak pressure. Results: Results showed distribution of plantar pressure in the right and left foot of normal subject under the various regions was not equal. It was observed that among the normal subjects 17% experienced equal pressure on the both feet, 7% showed greater pressure on left foot and 76% found higher load on the right foot. Similarly the pathological subjects were analyzed and noticed the changes in the pedobarographs depending upon the type and location of pathology. It was found that orthotics improved the plantar pressure and distributed it uniformly to make the person standing comfortably. Conclusion: Plantar pressure measurement techniques are useful in the analysis and understanding of the biomechanics of human foot. It was found that orthotics attenuated the peak pressure and distributed it uniformly on the plantar area of the foot. The data seem to be useful in understanding the biomechanics of bipedal standing.