2021 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 13-18
The purpose of this study was to examine the immediate effect of knee varusreducing shoes on the gait of young healthy adults in the presence or absence of knee varus deformity. The gait parameters of 37 university students were measured and compared under two different conditions, one while walking wearing knee varus-reducing shoes and the other while walking barefoot. Furthermore, the knee-to-kneedistancewas measured for all the participants, who were then divided into two groups as follows: those with a knee-to-knee distance of ?30 mm (the knee varus group) and those with a knee-toknee distance of < 30 mm (the non-varus group). The results showed that in comparison to walking barefoot, the stride and step lengths were significantly extended (p < 0.01) and the walking speed was significantly increased (p < 0.01) while walking wearing knee varus -reducing shoes. In addition, the effects of wearing shoes on the gait parameters were not affected by the presence or absence of knee varus. In conclusion, knee varus-reducing shoes improved the walking functions in healthy young adults, regardless of whether they had a knee varus deformity or not.
