Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Jacob Reed, Honors Thesis Advisor, Department of Kinesiology

Keywords

Foot--Abnormalities; Gait disorders; Gait in humans;

Abstract

Millions of individuals suffer from pain or injury as a result of structural abnormalities of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot and/or improper footwear. A majority of the research on abnormalities of the medial longitudinal arch is focused on how the arch alters foot kinematics during gait but does not ask how abnormalities may contribute to deviations in knee kinematics as well. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of foot arch types on deviations in healthy biomechanical gait in addition to the implications of orthotics in order to ultimately aid in the decrease of arch-attributed pain. Nine college-age students at the University of Northern Iowa underwent foot arch screening procedures and completed a walking trial on video. The video was kinematically analyzed to determine relationships between arch height and variances in gait variables. The data showed that individuals with abnormal arches (high or low-arch groups) had altered ankle and knee joint angles at both heel strike and toe off, had diminished stance phase duration, had altered ankle and knee joint angular velocities during stance phase, and lengthened stride velocities and frequencies. This study revealed that in addition to altered foot kinematics during gait, knee joint kinematics are also altered during gait. Understanding variations in ankle and knee joint kinematics due to abnormalities of the medial longitudinal arch will help health care professionals better diagnose and treat patients.

Year of Submission

2019

Department

Department of Kinesiology

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

5-2019

Object Description

1 PDF file (32 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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