THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STATIC FOREFOOT VARUS AND DYNAMIC PLANTAR PRESSURES MEASURES

1444 The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between static forefoot varus and dynamic plantar pressures in the left foot. Twenty-eight males (27.4 ± 5.9 yrs; 179.8 ± 5.0 cm; 82.5 ± 9.9 kg) were assessed for static forefoot varus (5.57 ± 2.35 deg). Maximum force (MF), peak pressure (PP), and pressure-time integral (PTI) was assessed via the EMED Pedar In-shoe Pressure Measurement system (Novel Electronics Inc., St. Paul, MN) in three regions of the forefoot: first metatarsal head(MF=148.66 ± 37.74 N; PP=22.25 ± 4.68 N/cm2; PTI=2.72±.92 N/cm2*s), second and third metatarsal heads (MF=231.10± 51.82 N; PP=22.96 ± 3.91 N/cm2; PTI=2.92 ± 2.35 N/cm2*s), and fourth and fifth metatarsal heads (MF=103.87 ± 87 N; PP=17.31 ± 3.61 N/cm2; PTI=2.41 ±.7 N/cm2*s). Correlational analyses revealed a moderate inverse relationship between forefoot varus and MF under the first metatarsal head (r = -.39, p < 0.05), and a moderate relationship between forefoot varus and PP and PTI under the fourth and fifth metatarsal heads (r =.38, p < 0.05; r =.39, p < 0.05), respectively. No other correlations were found to be significant. The findings indicate that a moderate relationship exists between static forefoot varus measures and certain dynamic plantar pressure measures in the forefoot.