Smart passive gait retraining intervention via pebbles for reducing peak plantar pressure: Short-term results

Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing interest in gait retraining to alter the gait parameters of different populations. In these gait retraining, peak plantar pressure (PPP) was considered as an important parameter of the foot biomechanics. It has been found that high PPP correlates to the common foot deformities including pes planus/cavus. However, previous studies utilized excessive electronics in gait retraining, which is challenging to implement daily especially when device cleaning, flexibility and portability are considered. Therefore, this study investigated feasibility of a novel unpowered gait retraining for reducing high PPP. Twelve potential participants identified for investigation through a baseline PPP evaluation with Novel Pedar-x system. Participants received a single session for the gait retraining with pebbles in the form of rigid spherical inserts (RSI) placed in locations of high PPP inside the deformable insole. This provides tactile cues alerting the participants to alter their gait to reduce excess PPP. The PPP values were tracked in weekly follow-up sessions for 6 weeks. The results demonstrated that participants responded to RSI altering their gait to reduce PPP and maximum force by 14% and 10.5% after six weeks respectively. This study is valuable for physicians in reducing PPP when non-electronics are required.