Article

Excessive foot pronation has been associated with injuries of the lower
extremity. No research has investigated the effect of enhancing plantar sensory
feedback on foot pronation. The aim of this study was to determine whether a shoe
with enhanced plantar sensory feedback reduces midfoot pronation. Midfoot
kinematics and electromyography of the peroneus longus, tibialis anterior and
medial gastrocnemius of 21 males (age: 21.0+/-4.0 years, height: 176.8+/-5.0 cm,
mass: 73.3+/-6.5 kg) were recorded whilst walking in a neutral shoe, a neutral
shoe with a prefabricated foot orthotic and a neutral shoe with nodules located
on the plantar-medial insole (experimental shoe). Friedman's ANOVA and Wilcoxon
tests were used to evaluate differences between shoe conditions. Mean
midfoot-tibia angles during ground contact were significantly more supinated when
wearing the experimental shoe (+7.14 degrees , p=0.023) or orthotic (+3.83
degrees , p=0.006) compared to the neutral shoe. During the loading phase,
midfoot angles were significantly more supinated when wearing the experimental
shoe compared to the orthotic (+5.53 degrees , p=0.008) or neutral shoe (+6.20
degrees , p=0.008). In the midstance phase, midfoot supination was significantly
higher in the orthotic compared to the neutral shoe (+2.79 degrees , p=0.006).
Finally, supination was increased during the propulsive phase when wearing the
experimental shoe compared to the orthotic (+7.43 degrees , p=0.010) or neutral
shoe (+10.83 degrees , p=0.009). No significant (p<0.05) differences in muscle
activation were observed. These results suggest that increasing plantar sensory
feedback to the medial aspect of the foot reduces midfoot pronation during an
acute bout of walking. Further work is needed to explore whether these effects
remain over longer time periods.
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