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Pressure and force distribution characteristics under the normal foot during the push-off phase in gait

1999; Elsevier BV; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1054/foot.1999.0518

1532-2963

N. Hayafune, Yoshifumi Hayafune, H. A. C. Jacob,

Foot and Ankle Surgery

The plantar pressure distribution during the push-off phase of walking was measured with the EMED-SF4 system of Novel (Munich, Germany) in 42 healthy subjects between 20 and 59 years of age. All 84 feet of the 23 women and 19 men were absolutely asymptomatic. The results showed that the big toe and the region of the sole under the second metatarsal head (MTH2) exhibited the highest pressures. After subdividing the foot sole into regions of interest, using a standard mesh configuration, forces acting in each of these areas were calculated from the pressures measured. During the push-off phase the ground force is shared mainly by the first and second metatarsal heads and by the big toe, these structures together taking 64% of the total forefoot load. The relationship of forces and peak pressures acting within the selected regions of interest were statistically analysed. There was significant negative correlation between the forces under the big toe and under each of the metatarsal heads MTH2, MTH3 and MTH4, showing, for example, that the load under MTH2–4 decreases if the force under the big toe increases. There was also significant negative correlation between the forces under MTH1 and under each of the metatarsal heads MTH3, MTH4 and MTH5, showing that the lateral load decreases when the medial load increases. No significant correlation was found between MTH1 and MTH2. Also, no significant correlation was apparent between MTH1 and the big toe.