Relationship between sagittal plane kinematics, foot morphology and vertical forces applied to three regions of the foot

Iain Hannah,Zimi Sawacha,Annamaria Guiotto,Claudia Mazzà

doi:10.1080/23335432.2016.1229135

Iain Hannah, Zimi Sawacha + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/23335432.2016.1229135

Copy DOI

Abstract

Kinetic analysis of human motion with a multi-segment musculoskeletal foot model requires the distribution of loading applied to the modeled foot segments to be determined. This work thus examines the existence of any correlation between intersegmental foot kinematics, foot morphology, and the distribution of vertical loading in a multi-segment foot model. Gait analysis trials were performed by 20 healthy subjects at a self-selected speed with intersegmental foot joint angles and the distribution of vertical loading measured for a multi-segment foot model. A statistical relationship between the sagittal plane foot kinematics and loads applied to each foot sub-area was sought using multiple regression analyses. The sub-segmental loading of the normal and abnormal morphological groups was also compared. No meaningful relationships between sagittal plane foot kinematics and sub-segment foot loading were found (max. R2 = 0.36). Statistically significant relationships between foot morphology classification and sub-area foot loading were however identified, particularly for feet exhibiting hallux valgus. Significant variation in inter-subject foot sub-segmental loading indicates that an appropriate technique for determining this load distribution must be determined before effective kinetic analyses are performed with multi-segment musculoskeletal foot models. The results of this study suggest that foot morphology is a better indicator of sub-area loading than sagittal plane kinematics and warrants further investigation.

Highlights

Modelled as a single segment, the complexity of the foot’s anatomy and a desire for a more complete description of foot motion has led to the development of a number of multi-segment musculoskeletal foot models (Carson et al 2001; Baker & Robb 2006; Simon et al 2006; Stebbins et al 2006)
The presence of hallux valgus was found to be significant during all subsequent phases of gait with a greater share of total loading applied to the MF during the midstance (p = 0.008, d = 0.72), terminal stance (p < 0.001, d = 0.96) and preswing (p < 0.001, d = 1.05) stance intervals
The aim of this study was to determine if any correlations exist between intersegmental foot kinematics, foot morphology and the distribution of sub-segment foot loading

Summary

Introduction

Modelled as a single segment, the complexity of the foot’s anatomy and a desire for a more complete description of foot motion has led to the development of a number of multi-segment musculoskeletal foot models (Carson et al 2001; Baker & Robb 2006; Simon et al 2006; Stebbins et al 2006). Performing kinetic analyses with such models requires the loads acting on the sub-areas of the foot to first be determined. Several approaches have been presented in the literature to allow for direct experimental measurement of the loads applied to the sub-areas of the foot. These include a combined force platform and pressure mat (Abuzzahab et al 1997; Boyd et al 1997; MacWilliams et al 2003; Sawacha et al 2012), a piezo-dynamometric integrated platform (Giacomozzi et al 2000) and an array of fibre- optic sensors (Wang et al 2005). Whilst promising results have been reported for each of these methods, all require a pressure mat or alternative custom-made device not typically employed as part of a standard gait analysis protocol (Simon 2004)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion