The effects of hip external rotator exercises and toe-spread exercises on lower extremity muscle activities during stair-walking in subjects with pronated foot

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of toe-spread (TS) exercises and hip external rotator strengthening exercises for pronated feet on lower extremity muscle activities during stair-walking. [Subjects and Methods] The participants were 20 healthy adults with no present or previous pain, no past history of surgery on the foot or the ankle, and no foot deformities. Ten subjects performed hip external rotator strengthening exercises and TS exercises and the remaining ten subjects performed only TS exercises five times per week for four weeks. [Results] Less change in navicular drop height occurred in the group that performed hip external rotator exercises than in the group that performed only TS exercises. The group that performed only TS exercises showed increased abductor hallucis muscle activity during both stair-climbing and -descending, and the group that performed hip external rotator exercises showed increased muscle activities of the vastus medialis and abductor hallucis during stair-climbing and increased muscle activity of only the abductor hallucis during stair-descending after exercise. [Conclusion] Stair-walking can be more effectively performed if the hip external rotator muscle is strengthened when TS exercises are performed for the pronated foot.

The effect of changing foot progression angle using real-time visual feedback on rearfoot eversion during running

“…We hypothesized that toe-in running reduces peak rearfoot eversion and toe-out running increases peak rearfoot eversion. Excessive rearfoot eversion is a modifiable risk factor for overuse injuries in athletes [47]. We showed that moving from toe-out to toe-in resulted in a reduction in peak eversion and subtalar pronation, thus supporting the potential value of changing FPA as a method for gait retraining in order to modify atypical rearfoot in/eversion.…”

Effect of systematic corrective exercises on the static and dynamic balance of patients with pronation distortion syndrome: A randomized controlled clinical trial study

“…[ 21 ] Previous research shows that some corrective exercises are superior to other approaches for improving the condition of individuals with flat feet and pronation distortion syndrome. [ 9 10 22 ] Therefore, use of these exercises, along with other balance and postural control methods, is recommended.…”