Impact of wearing a functional foot orthotic on the ankle joint angle of frontal surface of young adults with flatfoot.
KyoChul Seo, SeungHwan Park, KwangYong Park
PMID 28603352WHAT IT FOUND
Custom foot orthotics raised ankle angles during midstance in 15 young adults with flatfoot.
Right ankle went from 3.5° to 10.2°, left from 2.3° to 11.5°. No pain or function outcome was tested.
Key findings
01After wearing customized functional foot orthotics, both left and right ankle joint angles increased significantly during midstance.
02The right ankle angle was 3.5 ± 0.3° before and 10.2 ± 0.8° after, and the left ankle angle was 2.3 ± 0.5° before and 11.5 ± 0.6° after.
03The difference between left and right ankle joint angles did not change significantly after FFO use.
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What it does not show
Only 15 young adults were studied, so the findings may not apply to other age groups. All participants were measured before and after wearing the same orthotic, with no comparison group described. The outcome was ankle angle during midstance, not pain, function, walking efficiency, or injury risk. The FFO included a high-density resistance elastic pad, cup sole, low-elasticity heel pad, and EVA, so the study cannot show which component produced the angle change.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflict-of-interest declarations. It does state that Al foots Inc. in Korea fabricated the orthotics.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that functional foot orthotics improve pain, walking efficiency, or injury risk. This study measured only ankle angle during midstance in 15 young adults with flatfoot and did not test symptoms or function.