Shoe options improve gait in patients with triceps surae weakness

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Biomechanics April 2006

Shoe options improve gait in patients with triceps surae weakness

By: Lori Rochelle Roniger

http://biomech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185302960

Subjects with weak triceps surae who wore spring-assisted or wedge-

rocker shoes showed a pattern of increased stride length and average

velocity and decreased energy consumption compared to wearing normal

shoes, according to a study by University of California, San

Francisco, and San Francisco State University researchers presented

at the APTA CSM.

Led by Ann Hallum, PhD, PT, a professor in the UCSF/SFSU graduate

programs in physical therapy, and Nevena Zubcevik, MSPT, ATC, a

physical therapist at Golden Gate Physical Therapy in San Francisco,

the research used a case study design. Subjects were seven healthy

controls and five male subjects (four adults and one teenager) for

whom manual muscle testing showed minimal or no antigravity function

of the triceps surae unilaterally or bilaterally. They had diagnoses

of bilateral knee osteoarthritis, bilateral total hip replacement and

unilateral knee replacement, bilateral talipe equinovarus, spastic

diplegia with muscle lengthening procedures involving hamstrings and

Achilles, and spina bifida.

Each subject's gait was recorded using six-camera 3D motion analysis

while walking in Z-CoiL's Freedom 2000 spring-assisted shoes, their

own athletic shoes (including Timberland, New Balance, Converse, and

Vans), and the same shoes with a wedge-rocker attachment designed by

the researchers and produced by Arnie , CPed, of Shoe

Therapeutics in San Francisco.

" Although both the wedge-rocker and Z-CoiLs improved stride length

and decreased energy cost, the Z-CoiLs might be less stable for

patients with weakness or spasticity affecting balance and movement

skill, " Hallum said.

Zubcevik said she would like to work with shoe companies develop a

product that incorporates the team's concepts.