We investigated the effects of socks with soft support function around the ankle, on ankle movement and leg muscle activity during walking. Subjects were 13 healthy young women. The socks have support lines with lower elastic power around the ankle, and induce slight dorsiflexion and supination of the ankle. Subjects walked on treadmill at suitable speed and 100 step/min for 5 minutes, with barefoot or wearing the socks. Motions of plantar-dorsal flexion, adduction-abduction and inversion-eversion of the foot, and adduction-abduction of the leg, and electromyograms of tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, soleus and peroneus longus were analyzed. Following socks wearing effects were obtained: (a) increase in minimum abduction and decrease in abduction movement angle of the leg during stance phase, (b) decrease in maximum plantar flexion during initial swing phase, (c) decrease in peroneus longus activity during first term of stance phase, (d) decrease in mean activity of tibialis anterior near heel contact. Result (a), (c), (d) demonstrated assistance of ankle stability by the socks, and result (b) inhibition of the excessive plantar flexion related to stumble. No significant effect of the socks was found in bilateral differences of the measurement angle. Significant negative correlations were observed between bilateral differences in barefoot and change of the bilateral differences with socks wearing, in the following parameters: maximum plantar- and dorsal-flexion, its movement angle, maximum velocity of plantar flexion, and minimum abduction of the leg. For subjects with larger bilateral differences with barefoot, effects of decreasing the difference were obtained by wearing the socks..
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