Introduction Intrinsic foot muscles and the plantar fascia provide mechanical support for the medial longitudinal arch in gait [1]. In an injury to the plantar fascia (i.e. plantar fasciitis), there may be an increase in load on the intrinsic foot muscles resulting in increased metabolic demand. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) has shown that the ratio of inorganic phosphate...

A clinical study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of seven shoe insole materials and their ability to relieve areas of high plantar pressure. The following materials were tested: Latex foam, Plastazote, Dynafoam, Ortho felt, PPTR, Spenco, and Molo. Twenty-six patients with areas of high plantar pressure were tested using each of these materials. The Harris and Beath footprinting tech...

Background Māori have poorer health outcomes compared to nonMāori and are over-represented in amputation and mortality rates in Aotearoa. There is limited knowledge on the biomechanical parameters of Māori feet with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. The primary aim was to evaluate differences in plantar fascia thickness and plantar pressures under the forefoot region between Māori and non-Māo...

BACKGROUND Plantar heel pain is a common foot disorder aggravated by weight-bearing activity. Despite considerable focus on therapeutic interventions such as orthoses, there has been limited investigation of footwear-related issues in people with plantar heel pain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether people with plantar heel pain experience footwear-related difficulties compared to...

Background The mechanism of offloading plantar pressure with a TCC is by redistributing weight-bearing load across the entire plantar surface of the foot and increasing the plantar surface contact area [1]. An additional mechanism is by transfer of load to the cast walls however these studies relied on indirect methods [2-4]. No previous research has directly measured the load on the cast wall....

Plantar heel pain is often caused by plantar fasciitis (fasciopathy) and treatment has traditionally included stretching, gel heel inserts and injections. However, in line with the increased clinical focus and evidence regarding mechanotherapy, as re-introduced by Khan and Scott, a novel approach was recently taken by Rathleff et al using exercise and load (mechanotransduction) to treat the inj...

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of changes in speed and incline slope on plantar pressure distribution of the foot during treadmill jogging. Plantar pressure parameters were measured with the Pedar-X system in twenty healthy girls (mean age of 20.7 years, mean height of 1.60m, and a mean weight of 53.35kg). Because variations in walking speed or slope can significantly change th...

BACKGROUND Fibromatosis represents a wide group of benign, locally proliferative disorders of fibroblasts. Dupuytren's disease is a benign proliferative disease of palmar aponeurosis which usually affects adults between 40 and 60 years of age. Ledderhose's disease or plantar fibromatosis is plantar equivalent of Dupuyten's disease most often affecting middle-aged and older men, usually bilatera...

INTRODUCTION This case report will have implications for any area of medicine that aims to redistribute plantar pressure away from a particular area of the foot. This could be for example in the short-term care of people with diabetes, people who have insensate feet and people with poor blood supply to the foot coupled with plantar ulceration. The aim of the study was to investigate which type ...