1986 Volume 53 Issue 4 Pages 356-365
Much has been reported about the quantitative analysis of the footsole pressure in normal persons, but no definite conclusions have been obtained from these studies. This is also particularly true in the study of deformed feet.
In order to analyse the extent and degree of deformities, distribution maps of footsole pressure were made to compare normal and deformed feet.
One hundred feet in 50 normal persons and 172 feet in 96 patients with RA with flat foot, hallux valgus or spread foot deformity were tested. Footsole pressure maps were made from the high sensitive film "Prescale", made by Fuji film. Each person was asked to stand on one leg on the film for 5 seconds. Bony anatomical observations of the foot were done with two views of X-ray film. In this study, distribution maps and the X-ray film were analyzed only in the forefoot.
Results :
1) In normal persons, the highest pressure was observed in the Ist metatarsal head, 1.74% per cm2 of the body weight, and the mean value of II, III, N and V metatarsal head decreased in order.
2) The medial longitudinal arch was higher in cases with a higher value in I metatarsal head than in the others.
3) Footsole pressure in RA showed an increasing weight bearing area on the V metatarsal head and V tarso-metatarsal joint.
4) In cases of flat feet, when C/OY, N/OY and L/OY had a lower value than 0.25, 0.22 and 0.17 respectively, the weight bearing area showed up on I TMT joint initially, and with progress of deformity, pressure increased on the area.
5) In hallux valgus, pressure was higher on the III MTH with an increasing degree of deformity.
6) There were no changes of the footsole pressure maps in spread foot deformity compared with a normal foot.
