Effect of rain boot shaft length on lower extremity muscle activity during treadmill walking.
Young-Hwan Kim, Kyung-Tae Yoo
PMID 27799685WHAT IT FOUND
Long, middle and short rain boots showed no significant difference in lower-limb muscle activity during treadmill walking in 12 healthy young women.
Shaft length alone did not appear to alter how these muscles worked.
Key findings
01No significant differences were found between boot shaft lengths in the six measured lower-limb muscles.
02No significant differences were found between pre- and post-walking muscle activity across the boot-length conditions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small, with only 12 healthy female college students. All participants were young, healthy females, so the result may not apply to older adults, patients, athletes or people with pain or walking difficulty. The study measured only muscle electrical activity, not pain, balance, falls, joint motion or patient-reported function. The paper does not report randomisation, blinding or the order in which boot conditions were tested.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that rain boots are safe or ineffective for patients. It measured only muscle electrical activity in 12 healthy young women walking on a treadmill, and the null result does not test pain, balance, falls, joint motion or clinical populations.