INFLUENCES OF INVERSION EVERSION OF THE FOOT UPON IMPACT LOADING DURING LOCOMOTION

Pronation of the foot is believed to be one of the mechanisms used dur ing locomotion to attenuate the loading experienced by the body at gro und contact. The purpose of this study was to quantify the changes in loading induced by modifications to the normal pronation of the foot d uring walking and running. Impact loading in 10 subjects was determine d using ground reaction force and tibial acceleration. The results ind icated that impact loading was increased when normal pronation was pre vented during running. However, there was no reduction in impact loadi ng when normal pronation was exaggerated. Relevance Orthotic correctio ns are commonly prescribed to control excessive foot pronation in pati ents who experience knee pain. The findings of the present paper demon strate that pronation modifications can affect the magnitude of the im pact experienced by the body during locomotion. It was also found that the loading responses to pronation modifications were not consistent between walking and running. Thus care should be exercised when orthot ics that will be used for both walking and running are prescribed. Fur thermore, patients should be informed that their orthotics may be acti vity specific.