The effect of foot structure and functional foot stability on the gait patterns of the foot

Background Poor foot structure, such as flat feet or high arched feet were thought to cause excessive foot movement during gait, which in turn is the pre-cursor to foot injuries [1,3]. However, some studies claimed that the differences in gait patterns may not be due to foot structure alone [4,8,11]. It has been suggested that good foot functional stability can ‘protect’ the mal-aligned foot from injuries [9]. Functional Foot Stability is defined in this study as ‘the ability of the foot to continually adjust its position to maintain the body in an upright, balanced position’. An individual with good functional foot stability will be able to sense the foot position and if necessary, correct the position of the foot, thus preventing potential foot injuries. Whilst studies have been also done to relate foot structure and functional stability [6], as well as functional stability and gait patterns [12,14], no study has been done to investigate the combined effect of foot structure and functional foot stability on gait patterns. Therefore, this study examines the combined effect of foot structure and functional foot stability on running gait patterns.