Facilitating the interpretation of pedobarography: the relative midfoot index as marker for pathologic gait in ankle osteoarthritic and contralateral feet

Abstract

BackgroundPedobarography offers dynamic information about the foot, but the interpretation of its large data is challenging. In a prior study it was shown that attention can be restricted to pedobarographic midfoot load data. We aim to verify this observation in ankle osteoarthritic and contralateral feet.MethodsWe assessed both feet of 120 patients with end-stage ankle osteoarthritis (OA) and 35 healthy volunteers with AOFAS-score and dynamic pedobarography in barefoot condition. We introduce a new parameter, the Relative Midfoot Index (RMI), representing the depth of the midfoot weighted by the maximal force (MF) in the hindfoot and forefoot. Main outcome measures were the RMI, MF and contact times in the hindfoot, midfoot and forefoot. Ankle OA, contralateral and healthy feet were compared with ANOVA.ResultsThe RMI was significantly smaller in OA feet (0.65 ± 0.19) and contralateral feet (0.69 ± 0.15) than in healthy feet (0.84 ± 0.08, p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between OA and contralateral feet. The RMI showed a correlation of 0.48 with the AOFAS score. Contralateral and OA feet were significantly different from healthy feet (p < 0.001) in all parameters except the hindfoot MF. An RMI <0.8 showed a positive predictive value of 80% and sensitivity of 78% for being unhealthy.ConclusionThe RMI assists the interpretation of pedobarographic parameters and provides a user-friendly indicator for unhealthy foot conditions with a cut-off value of 0.8. The contralateral feet of ankle OA patients differed significantly from healthy feet and are therefore not suitable as control group.Level of Evidence: 3 case control study

Pedobarography: a novel approach to test the efficacy of treatments for lameness; an experience with mavacoxib in dogs with elbow osteoarthritis

“…The study and graphical representation of pressure imbalances is defined as pedobarography; these data can be obtained at stance (static pedobarography) or with a moving subject (dynamic pedobarography) [12]. The usefulness of this technique has been widely proven in human medicine, rehabilitation, and/or sport fields [12–14].…”

Pedobarography — monitoring method of functional restoration of unstable ankle joint injuries

“…стопу умовно поділяють на 6 ділянок: передньолатеральна, середньолатеральна, задньолатеральна, передньомедіальна, середньомедіальна й задньомедіальна [21]. Такий поділ дозволяє найбільш точно описати розподіл показників: середнього тиску на стопу, пікового тиску, контакту стопи з поверхнею [22,23]. Адже стопа -це стартова точка біокінетичного ланцюжка, який пов'язаний з нижніми кінцівками, тазом і хребтом людини [24].…”