Immediate effect of prefabricated and UCBL foot orthoses on alignment of midfoot and forefoot in young people with symptomatic flexible flatfoot: A radiographic evaluation.

BACKGROUND

Radiographic imaging has been considered the gold standard in evaluating the skeletal alignment of the foot in static weightbearing. The effects of foot orthoses on the alignment of foot bones have been mostly evaluated using lateral view x-rays. The posterior-anterior view has not been investigated extensively.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the effects of 2 foot orthoses: University of California Biomechanics Laboratory Orthosis (UCBL) and a prefabricated orthosis (P-FFO) on the alignment of foot bones on anterior-posterior x-rays in young people with symptomatic flexible flatfoot (SFF).

STUDY

DESIGN

This is a randomized, crossover study.

METHODS

Fifteen participants (mean [SD], 23.67 ± 2 years) with SFF were randomly imaged in 3 different conditions: shoes only, shoes + P-FFO, and shoes + UCBL. The talonavicular coverage, the first and the second talometatarsal angles, the intermetatarsal angle, and the cuboid abduction angle (CAA) were measured on weightbearing, anterior-posterior x-ray images for each condition.

RESULTS

Both orthotic designs demonstrated a significant reduction in the talonavicular coverage, the first and the second talometatarsal angles, and the CAA compared with the shoe-only condition (P < .001). The talonavicular coverage angle reduced by ∼11% using P-FFO compared with UCBL (P < .005). No significant differences were observed for other angles between the 2 orthotic conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Both orthotic conditions improved the talonavicular coverage, first and the second talometatarsal angle, and CAA in young people with SFF. The walls of the UCBL orthosis did not result in further correction of the talonavicular coverage angle compared with the prefabricated FFO design.