BACKGROUND Excessive knee valgus moments are considered to be a risk factor for non-contact injuries in female athletes. Knee injuries are highly prevalent in netballers and are significant in terms of cost and disability. The aim of the study was to identify if changes in external ankle support mechanisms effect the range of motion and loading patterns at the ankle and knee joint during a side...

Background Patients with knee OA usually present with major involvement in the medial compartment characterized by joint inflammation, loss of cartilage and joint space and experience increased loads across this compartment. These contribute to pain, changes in muscle control and may interfere with balance and postural control [1,2]. Laterally wedged insoles or footwear components have been use...

Midsubstance Achilles tendinopathy is one of the most common lower leg conditions. Most patients can recover with nonsurgical treatment that focuses on tendon loading exercises and, when necessary, symptom modulating treatments such as topical, oral, or injected medication, ice, shoe inserts, manual therapy, stretching, taping, or low-level laser. If unresponsive to initial management, a small ...

Background Rearfoot pronation is one of the factors having been linked to overuse injuries in running (1). Many studies have used shoe eversion as a measure for movement about the subtalar joint axis. Others used foot movement expressed as rotations about the anatomical main axes (2). If joint coupling and with that muscle loading is to be investigated it may be beneficial to assess rotations a...

The aim of this study was to determine the response of cyclists to manipulations of cadence and power output in terms of force application and plantar pressure distribution. Two groups of cyclists, 17 recreational and 12 competitive, rode at three nominal cadences (60, 80, 100 rev x min(-1)) and four power outputs (100, 200, 300, 400 W) while simultaneous force and in-shoe pressure data were co...

PURPOSE This study aimed at examining the influence of different playing surfaces on in-shoe loading patterns in each foot (back and front) separately during the first serve in tennis. METHODS Ten competitive tennis players completed randomly five first (ie, flat) serves on two different playing surfaces: clay vs GreenSet. Maximum and mean force, peak and mean pressure, mean area, contact are...

Squash is associated with a high incidence of chronic injuries. Currently there is a trend in many sports for players to select minimalist footwear. The aim of the current investigation was to examine the effects of squashspecific, running shoes and minimalist footwear on the kinetics and 3-D kinematics of the lunge movement in squash players. Twelve male squash players performed lunge movement...

CONTEXT Stress fractures are one of the most common injuries in sports, accounting for approximately 10% of all overuse injuries. Treatment of fifth metatarsal stress fractures involves both surgical and nonsurgical interventions. Fifth metatarsal stress fractures are difficult to treat because of the risks of delayed union, nonunion, and recurrent injuries. Most of these injuries occur during ...

Background Foot morphology has received increasing attention from both biomechanics researches and footwear manufacturers. Usually, the morphology of the foot is quantified by 2D footprints. However, footprint quantification ignores the foot's vertical dimension and hence, does not allow accurate quantification of complex 3D foot shape. Methods The shape variation of healthy 3D feet in a popu...