The Influence of Shoe Type on Ankle Angle

Abstract

With the increasing amount of attention to marching bands/drum corps, more students are becoming marching athletes. These students must not only be accomplished musicians but also perform demanding choreography in constraining uniforms including shoes. Anecdotally, these shoes are the source of discomfort for many of these performers. PURPOSE: To determine if ankle angle at heel strike is significantly altered by walking in tennis shoes versus walking in marching shoes. METHODS: Voluntary subjects included 3 males and 3 females (20.1 ± 1.17 yrs) with extensive marching experience (6.8 ± 1.17 yrs). Reflective markers were attached to the right lateral epicondyle, lateral malleolus, and lateral distal end of the fifth metatarsal. Participants were asked to walk in three different shoe conditions: condition 1-tennis shoes, self-selected gait; condition 2- tennis shoes, marching gait; and condition 3- marching shoes, marching gait. Ankle angle was calculated using video analysis and were analyzed using a 1 (ankle angle) x 3 (condition) repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Main effect analysis for ankle angle revealed significance among conditions (p<0.05, power 1.0, r2 = 0.895). Follow up LSD Analysis revealed that these differences were between conditions 1 and 2 (111.6° ± 3.69 vs 101.2° ± 3.11, p = 0.001) and conditions 1 and 3 (111.6° ± 3.69 vs 103.9° ± 4.01, p = 0.020). Condition 2 was not found to be different from condition 3 (p = 0.151). CONCLUSION: Results revealed that the average ankle angle during heel contact is influenced more by changing the gait style from walking to marching (condition 1 and 2, 1 and 3) than changing the shoe type (condition 2 and 3). Thus, indicating that marching shoes, though uncomfortable, do not prevent the foot from achieving the same ankle angle at heel contact as marching in tennis shoes. Further research is needed to determine if the lack of support of support of the shoes alter other gait kinematics or kinetics.