Assessment of distribution of plantar pressures and foot characteristics during walking in pregnant women
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.5277/ABB-01373-2019-04 |
| Keywords | pregnancy; foot; pressure; force |
| Description | Purpose: The main purpose of this research was to analyse the distribution of plantar pressures and foot characteristics during walk-ing between weeks 27 and 36 of pregnancy. The secondary purpose was to test the effect of the customized orthopaedic shoes that wereworn by the experimental group. Methods: Pregnant women (n = 73) were divided into 2 groups, control group (n = 38) and experimentalgroup (n = 35) which completed 5 gait trials on a walkway (1.55m) at a self-selected velocity of gait, where force, pressure and remain-ing foot characteristics were sampled and displayed by Novel database pro m (version 25.3.24). Results: Analysis of foot characteristicsdid not reveal important changes. Analysis of the distribution of plantar pressures revealed few changes in the pre- and post-measurementof the experimental and control groups between weeks 27 and 36 of pregnancy. In the last measurement, there is a significant increase ofpeak pressure only in the midfoot area of the left foot (151.1 ± 41.2 kPa) and in the hindfoot area of the right foot (346.3 ± 104.1) of theexperimental group. The control group exhibits similar pressure development for both of foot. Conclusions: Monitored parameters dem-onstrated in certain areas notably development of force and contact area. Results of foot characteristics did not reveal a significantchanges. As both groups registered similar values in certain areas in a comparison of pre/post measurement characteristics, the influenceof specific orthopaedic shoes cannot be conclusively demonstrated in the experimental group. |
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