FOOT TYPE BIOMECHANICS - COMPARISON OF PLANUS AND RECTUS FOOT TYPES

The basic premise central to the diagnosis and treatment of most mecha nogenic foot and ankle pathologies is that a given foot will display a characteristic function depending on the biomechanical alignment of t he hindfoot and forefoot, However, the effects of foot type on an indi vidual's ability to perform comfortable cadence locomotion have not be en scientifically proven, Therefore, this study was conducted on 21 he althy, young subjects (10 subjects with planus foot type and 11 subjec ts with rectus foot type) to test whether different foot types yield d istinguishable foot functions, New methods were developed to quantify biomechanical foot function during posture and comfortable cadence loc omotion, The results of the study indicate that individuals with planu s and rectus foot types show statistically significant differences in the biomechanical function of the foot.