Medical and Biological Sciences XXVI/2 - Collegium Medicum ...

Medical and Biological Sciences, 2012, 26/2, 41-46
ORIGINAL ARTICLE / PRACA ORYGINALNA
Katarzyna Strojek, Irena Bułatowicz, Agata Czechowska, Agnieszka Radzimińska, Urszula Kaźmierczak,
Grzegorz Srokowski, Marcin Siedlaczek
THE ASSESSMENT OF INFLUENCE OF THERMOPLASTIC FOOT PADS
ON THE BODY STABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH FOOT DYSFUNCTIONS - PILOTY STUDY
OCENA WPŁYWU WKŁADEK TERMOPLASTYCZNYCH NA STABILNOŚĆ CIAŁA
U PACJENTÓW Z DYSFUNKCJAMI STOPY – BADANIA WSTĘPNE
Departament of Kinezytherapy and Medical Massage Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus
University in Torun
Head of the Chair – Doctor of Medical Sciences Irena Bułatowicz
Urszula Kaźmierczak - Doctor of Medical Sciences
Grzegorz Srokowski – Doctor of Medical Sciences
Katarzyna Strojek – Doctor of Medical Sciences
Agnieszka Radzimińska - Doctor of Medical Sciences
Urszula Kaźmierczak - Doctor of Medical Sciences
Grzegorz Srokowski – Doctor of Medical Sciences
Marcin Siedlaczek – Master of Physiotherapy
Agata Czechowska - Master of Physiotherapy
Summary
Nowadays, we can observe a tendency to reduce the
efficiency of the musculoskeletal system. Currently, the
majority of the population is dominated by a sedentary
lifestyle. The lower limbs are deprived of systematic
locomotion training and this is one of the main reasons for
reduction of feet functional efficiency. A sedentary lifestyle
more and more often leads to muscles and ligaments
inefficiency, which often contributes to the foot dysfunctions.
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of a
thermoform insole on body stability improvement in patients
with foot dysfunctions. The research included 20 people with
one or both feet dysfunctions, qualified to apply modeled
thermoform insole in order to correct the musculo-skeletal
imbalance of a foot. The following foot defects appeared the
most frequently among the people examined: hollow foot,
abducted foot, adducted foot, longitudinal and transversal flat
foot. The study was conducted in the Municipal
Rehabilitation Center for Children and Youth in Torun, and
started on the first day of giving an insole to a patient. An
assessment of foot structure and functions, and lower ankle
joint stability based on static and dynamic test on podoscope
were carried out. The height and weight were measured. The
BMI, characterizing height-weight ratios, was calculated.
Lower limb lengths were measured in order to detect a
possible asymmetry of limbs, affecting the feeling of a body
stability. After the application of thermoform insoles, a worse
outcome of the final assessment appears in overweight and
obese people . The size of the insole has no significant effect
on improving the results of the final assessment. In more than
half of the patients, the standing on one leg test stage of the
diagnostic part was an objective overall examination of body
stability using an electronic platform Freeman Easy Tech
LIBRA®.On the basis of the analysis of the studies, we have
formulated the following conclusions: 1) The use of
thermoform insoles individually tailored to the foot
dysfunctions affects overall improvement in the stability of
the body in patients in all age groups. 2) Patients aged 21
obtained a greater improvement of the parameters researched
than patients aged 22-65. 3) The use of thermoform insoles
had a positive impact on improving the overall surface
deflections in all age groups; in patients aged 22-65 the
improvement was smaller by half of the value. 4) After using