What Are The Effects Of Wearing Shoes On Foot Posture?
Abstract
• Recent studies have debated the benefits that shoe wear, or lack thereof, has on reducing the forces that are imposed on the lower extremities while running, thus lowering the chance for injury1.
• Research has shown that reducing the amount of structural support provided by shoes increases cross sectional area of foot intrinsic muscles. Additionally, increased intrinsic support of the medial longitudinal arch promotes a higher degree of supination3.
• Clinically, and in the literature, it is well established that extreme foot postures are associated with injuries, while more normal foot postures are not2&5.
• Inter-rater reliability for the Foot Posture Index (FPI) and Dorsal Arch Height Ratio (DAHR) are established in the literature as valid ways of assessing static foot posture. These measures have a ICC interrater reliability values of .525-.655 and .98-.99, respectively4.
• To date, there are no studies that specifically evaluate the relationship between foot posture and habitual shoe wear.
• Our purpose was to compare foot posture and foot anthropometric measurements of habitually shod and unshod participants and to determine if a correlation exists between foot strike pattern and foot posture.