Weight Bearing CT and Relative Orientation of Foot Bones: Effect of Loading and Heeled Shoes

The purpose of this article is to determine the orientation and relative position of the foot bones in Weight Bearing CT, highlighting the effect of the load and the shoe with the heel. Thanks to a Cone Beam CT (OnSight 3D Extremity System, Carestream) equipment, three scans of the foot of a healthy young subject were carried out in three conditions: "unloading", "loading", and wearing a shoe with "heel". In order to assess the accuracy of the articular angles of the foot through non-invasive measurements, a measurement was performed by Gait-Analysis with passive markers in the same conditions. The effect of the "load" resulted in a significant alteration of the foot posture especially in the sagittal plane, with crushing of the longitudinal medial arch. The heeled shoe involves enormous deformations at the level of the metatarsophalangeal joints and the ankle.

Influence of lower limb dominance and physical activity level on flexibility in healthy subjects

The purpose of the present study was to verify the influence of lower limb dominance and physical activity (PA) levels on flexibility in healthy young subject. Ninety-nine university students (46 males and 53 females) volunteered for this study. Hip flexion range of motion (ROM) during the passive straight leg raise test was used to estimate lower limb flexibility. PA levels were determined by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). The dominant limb of the subjects with high PA levels had higher flexibility values than the dominant and non-dominant limb of the subjects with low PA levels (p = 0.026 and p = 0.011, respectively) and the non-dominant limb of the subjects with moderate PA levels (p = 0.038). Thus, this investigation shows that lower limb dominance and PA levels have an influence on the flexibility. High flexibility values were observed in the dominant limb of the subjects with high PA levels. Therefore, this information may be useful when planning injury prevention or rehabilitation protocols for subjects with different PA levels and lower limb flexibility asymmetries.