WEDGED FOOTWEAR PERTURBATIONS AFFECT LOWER EXTREMITY COORDINATION DYNAMICS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the coordinative changes that occur with a footwear perturbation consisting of a neutral shoe and varus and valgus wedged shoes. This type of footwear is often prescribed for clinical use. Lower extremity kinematics were collected as six male subjects ran overground at 3.6 m⋅s-1±5%. A modified vector coding technique assessed coordination between rearfoot motion and leg rotation. It was determined that there were clinically relevant differences between the footwear during the middle and late stance period. The differences were most evident between the varus and valgus conditions. However, the varus condition was closer in coordination structure to the neutral condition. The difference in coordination during the wedged conditions indicated that the valgus wedge perturbation may have implications in producing soft tissue injury.