Training Intrinsic Foot Muscles
- Conditions
- Muscular Weakness
- Interventions
- Other: Short foot exercise protocolOther: Short foot exercise plus NMES
- Registration Number
- NCT03670563
- Lead Sponsor
- St. Louis University
- Brief Summary
The foot intrinsic muscles are increasingly targeted in foot and ankle rehabilitation. The exercises are often difficult to learn initially. The purpose of the proposed study is to examine the effect training the intrinsic foot muscles on performance in selected physical and functional measures such as balance, plantar pressure during gait, vertical jump, and foot posture. In addition,the investigators will compare one group training with traditional exercise instruction methods and one group using an adjunctive modality (neuromuscular electric stimulation) during the introductory phases of exercise instruction. The investigators are interested in how this modality might affect physical and functional outcome measures and if it affects participants' frustration with learning a new exercise.
- Detailed Description
Arm 1: The purpose of this arm of the study is to determine if a 4-week trial of foot muscle exercises, instructed with passive, active-assisted, and active techniques, affect functional measures such as balance, plantar pressure during gait, and vertical jump. A frustration index will be employed to assess participant frustration with learning a new exercise. 15 will be enrolled in this arm of the study.
Arm 2: The purpose of this arm of the study is to determine if a 4-week trial of foot muscle exercises, instructed with neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMES) and active techniques, affect functional measures such as balance, plantar pressure during gait, and vertical jump. A frustration index will be employed to assess participant frustration with learning a new exercise.15 will be enrolled in this arm of the study.
Arm 3: This group will not engage in any training, but will serve as a comparator for the two intervention arms.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 39
- Individuals aged 18-30; Participate in physical activity 3 times/week; No neurologic injury/condition; No prior experience with study exercises; No injury to lower extremity in past 2 months; Inability to selectively extend the great toe while the lesser toes remain quiet (indicating INTRINSIC FOOT MUSCLES dysfunction)
- Sedentary; Known neurologic injury or condition; Current LE injury that may affect neuromuscular function; Tarsal coalition; Absolute contradiction to manual therapy or neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES); Previous intrinsic foot muscle training protocol
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Exercise 1 Short foot exercise protocol Short foot exercise protocol instructed utilizing verbal instruction, passive modeling, active-assisted modeling, and active modeling. Exercise 2 Short foot exercise plus NMES Short foot exercises plus NMES. Short foot exercise protocol instructed utilizing verbal instruction, passive modeling assisted by neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMES), active-assisted modeling assisted by neuromuscular electric stimulation, and active modeling.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Reaching Distance Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks. Arm 3: Baseline 4 weeks, 8 weeks The change demonstrated in clinical test of single limb reach/balance in the anterior, posterolateral, and posteriomedial directions in cm
Center of pressure during walking gait Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 wk, 4 wk, 8 wk. Arm 3: Baseline 4 wk, 8 wk Changes in center of pressure during walking gait
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Changes in landing forces Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks. Arm 3: Baseline 4 weeks, 8 weeks Change in vertical ground reaction force during landing after vertical jump
Maximal vertical jump height Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks. Arm 3: Baseline 4 weeks, 8 weeks Maximal height jump off of two feet will be measured in centimeters
Perceived effort in learning novel exercise measured by NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) Arm 1 and Arm 2: Supervised training sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 Participant reported workload estimates of Mental, Physical, and Temporal Demands, Frustration, Effort, and Performance. RAW TLX will be utilized, with each component considered individually; the subscales will not be combined. Subscales are rated 0-21; higher scores indicate greater load or difficulty
Changes in foot posture over loading conditions Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks. Arm 3: Baseline 4 weeks, 8 weeks Change in navicular height from 10% weight bearing to 90% weight bearing in mm
Arch Height Index Arm 1 and Arm 2: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks. Arm 3: Baseline 4 weeks, 8 weeks Change in arch height from 10% weight bearing to 90% weight bearing relative to truncated foot length (in %)
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Saint Louis University
🇺🇸Saint Louis, Missouri, United States