Movement of the human foot in 100 pain free individuals aged 18–45: implications for understanding normal foot function

Abstract

BackgroundUnderstanding motion in the normal healthy foot is a prerequisite for understanding the effects of pathology and thereafter setting targets for interventions. Quality foot kinematic data from healthy feet will also assist the development of high quality and research based clinical models of foot biomechanics. To address gaps in the current literature we aimed to describe 3D foot kinematics using a 5 segment foot model in a population of 100 pain free individuals.MethodsKinematics of the leg, calcaneus, midfoot, medial and lateral forefoot and hallux were measured in 100 self reported healthy and pain free individuals during walking. Descriptive statistics were used to characterise foot movements. Contributions from different foot segments to the total motion in each plane were also derived to explore functional roles of different parts of the foot.ResultsFoot segments demonstrated greatest motion in the sagittal plane, but large ranges of movement in all planes. All foot segments demonstrated movement throughout gait, though least motion was observed between the midfoot and calcaneus. There was inconsistent evidence of movement coupling between joints. There were clear differences in motion data compared to foot segment models reported in the literature.ConclusionsThe data reveal the foot is a multiarticular structure, movements are complex, show incomplete evidence of coupling, and vary person to person. The data provide a useful reference data set against which future experimental data can be compared and may provide the basis for conceptual models of foot function based on data rather than anecdotal observations.

How the three arches of the foot intercorrelate

“…Indeed, previous studies were mainly limited to the medial arch, while in reality; all the three arches contribute to support the diverse biomechanical activities of the foot. Moreover, it has been shown that motion of the lateral arch is similar to that of the medial arch [9,14,19,20]; whereas the transverse arch is essential to the stability of both arches [2,22]. Thus, understanding the relationship between the arches of the foot is paramount.…”

Influencia de la postura del pie sobre la rigidez de la columna medial durante la marcha

“…Nester et al have pointed great interindividual variation in the movement of foot and ankle joints when normal healthy subjects are subjected to study (Nester 2009;Nester et al 2014). These authors have hypothesized that normal healthy subjects (asymptomatic) can have different and very diverse kinematic patterns that could be considered normal.…”

“…En cualquier caso, los errores encontrados son pequeños y dentro del rango esperado (error medio<5 o ). En base a estos resultados, Nester et al (2010) propone un modelo de 4 segmentos del pie (calcáneo, mediopié antepié lateral y antepié medial) , que se ha utilizado para describir la cinemática de 100 sujetos sanos (71 mujeres y 19 hombres) (Nester et al 2014). …”

“…El análisis se realiza a partir de la representación gráfica de la evolución temporal de rotaciones y momentos articulares. En primer lugar es reseñable que los resultados presentados muestran un intervalo de confianza más estrecho que el mostrado en otros estudios (Nester 2009;Nester et al 2014), demostrando la importancia que tiene el control de la muestra. La evolución de rotaciones y momentos articulares muestra un patrón bastante diferente en cada plano de movimiento, lo que viene a reforzar que la articulación MT puede moverse virtualmente en cualquier dirección, flexión dorsal (FD)/flexión plantar (FP), aducción (AD)/abducción (AB) e inversión (IN)/eversión (EV), dependiendo de los esfuerzos (internos y externos) a que sea sometida (Kevin A Kirby 2002).…”

“…Those models divide the foot into different segments such us rearfoot or forefoot and allow a more precise study of the mechanical characteristics of different parts or segments of the foot and ankle. Presently, there exists several foot models (Kidder et al 1996;Carson et al 2001;Nester et al 2010) that segment the foot in different ways and that has been used in different studies that explored the mechanical behavior of the foot and a better understanding of foot kinematics has been acquired in those studies (Legault-Moore et al 2012;Nester et al 2014). However, addition of kinetic variables (such us joint moments and powers) to these models has been much more limited by technical issues, mainly the location of forces in each segment and the estimation of joint centers (Baker & Robb 2006;Buczek et al 2006;Bruening et al 2010).…”