EFFECT OF THONG STYLE FLIP-FLOPS AND SUPPORTIVE SHOES ON CHILDRENS BAREFOOT SIDESTEP KINEMATICS

Abstract

Thongs and supportive have been shown to alter children’s barefoot motion. However, the effect of thongs on other types of activities such as sidestepping are unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect thong style flip-flops and supportive have on childrens knee and foot motion during a jogging sidestep task when compared to barefoot. Eleven healthy children with no foot deformity (aged 8 to 13 years) were recruited. Motion and force capture was used to record knee and multisegment foot motion. Motion adaptations while thongs were worn were restricted to the hallux and while supportive were worn, occurred with knee, midfoot and hallux motion. All footwear conditions increased ankle inversion magnitude. Thongs had less effect on children’s barefoot sidestep motion than supportive shoes.