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Effect of Foot Morphology on Center-of-Pressure Excursion During Barefoot Walking

Lilian Wong, B App Sc (Phty) Hons ^*, Adrienne Hunt, PhD ^*, Joshua Burns, PhD  and Jack Crosbie, PhD ^*

^* Discipline of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, Australia.
Institute for Neuromuscular Research, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead/Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Corresponding author: Joshua Burns, PhD, Institute for Neuromuscular Research, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia 2145. (E-mail: joshuab2{at}chw.edu.au)

Abstract

Background: The path of the center of pressure during walking varies among individuals by deviating to a greater or lesser extent toward the medial or lateral border of the foot. It is unclear whether this variance is systematic and is affected by foot posture. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between foot morphology and center-of-pressure excursion during barefoot walking.

Methods: Pressure data were collected from 83 participants whose foot type had been classified as supinated, normal, or pronated according to the Foot Posture Index. Three center-of-pressure variables were analyzed: medial excursion area, lateral excursion area, and total excursion area.

Results: Across the spectrum of foot types, we found that the more supinated a participant’s foot posture, the larger the area of lateral center-of-pressure excursion, and, conversely, the more pronated the foot posture, the smaller the area of lateral center-of-pressure excursion. Furthermore, the supinated foot type had a relatively larger center-of-pressure total excursion area, and the pronated foot type had a relatively smaller center-of-pressure total excursion area.

Conclusions: These results indicate the importance of assessing foot posture when measuring center of pressure and may help explain regional differences in pain and injury location among foot types. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 98(2): 112–117, 2008)