A comparative study has been conducted to assess the effects of arch support on oxygen consumption in 20 subjects with flat feet who were generally complaining about fatigue, and also to explore whether their feeling of weariness was objective or not. The resting, walking and final recovery heart rates, blood pressures, and walking oxygen consumption values of the patients with flat feet were measured and calculated and compared to a control group using treadmill and oxygen consumption devices. In stage one the patients did not wear any arch support. Then suitable arch supports were prepared for each patient and in stage two they wore these arch supports. The results did not show any significant difference between the resting heart rates, blood pressure and oxygen consumptions. However, differences in walking heart rate, systolic blood pressure, final recovery heart rate, oxygen consumption, and energy cost values were found to be significant between stage one and two of the test in the patient group. The difference in walking diastolic blood pressure values without and with arch support were found to be insignificant. It may therefore be deduced that oxygen consumption during walking is decreased when a suitable arch support is applied to patients with flat feet.

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This study was carried out to determine the extent of the adaptive changes in the lumbar region of young ballet dancers when compared to their sedentary peers. Forty female (age: 15.28 ± 2.02 years) ballet dancers were evaluated for muscle strength, lumbar mobility, muscle tightness, spinal deviation, and depth of lordosis. Measurements were compared with those of 40 healthy female (age 15.35 ± 2.33 years) non-dancers. No difference was found in muscle strength between the two groups ( p < 0.05). Lumbar mobility was higher and the muscle tightness in the hamstring muscles was lower in the dance subjects. The difference was statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Deviation and depth of lumbar lordosis was found to be significantly lower in the dance subjects ( p < 0.05). It can be concluded that training in classical ballet has various effects on the musculoskeletal structures of the lumbar region and these effects should be taken into consideration for the prevention of overuse injuries.