Electrical Activity of Selected Shank Muscles When Using Minimalist Shoes during Single-Leg Landing Task

Nowadays, light and minimal shoes have been used by athletes in various types of sports activities in order to be in a position close to barefoot position. But its effect on the electrical activity of the shank muscles is not well understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the electrical activity of selected shank muscles when using minimalist shoes, normal shoes and barefoot during single-leg landing. For this purpose, 15 healthy boys with a mean age of 23.53± 2.64 years who had no history of any abnormalities participated in this study. Electromyographic variables of tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, peroneus brevis, gastrocnemius medialis, gastrocnemius lateralis and soleus muscles of subjects' superior legs were examined in two phases; pre-activity and eccentric. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures tests were used for data analysis. The significance level was set at α=0.05. The results showed that in both phases, the activity of selected muscles in the shank of individuals during the one-legged landing movement in the barefoot position was more than the minimalist shoes and when using the minimalist shoes was more than normal shoes (P<0.05); Since minimalist shoes have been shown to have moderate muscle activation patterns, between barefoot and casual shoes, it is recommended to use it to prevent sports injuries and also to strengthen the shank and leg muscles in environments where it is not possible to move barefoot.