APPLICATION OF CUSTOM-FIT FOOT ORTHOSES TO ENHANCE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE –EXAMPLES IN RUNNING AND CYCLING

Abstract

Running or cycling related soft tissue and joint injuries of the lower extremities are thought mainly due to the malalignment of skeletal structure which causes muscle overuse activity and high joint obstruct loading. In correcting this abnormal foot and lower extremity dysfunction, functional foot orthoses (or orthotic) are often prescribed to control abnormal foot motions and to alter the abnormal joint loadings, particularly for the over- pronated foot. They are many types of orthosis on the market, most of off-shelf products and expensive custom made ones are usually exaggerated, some even provides misleading concepts, which results in over expectation from users. Many recent literatures have challenged the accepted concept that the foot dysfunction is necessary associated with sports injury, and the orthosis is good prescription for sports injury prevention. The disagreement of efficacy of functional orthosis may be caused by the experimental setup of biomechanical researches and underlined abnormality of recruited individuals. This paper presented three separate studies to reveal the efficacy of foot orthosis in sports injury prevention and pitfall of experimental design.