Zhang Xianyi, Schütte Kurt Heinrich, Vanwanseele Benedicte
Human Movement Biomechanics Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Human Movement Biomechanics Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Sport Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
Gait Posture. 2017 Sep;57:52-56. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.05.027. Epub 2017 May 25.
Maintaining balance is vitally important in everyday life. Investigating the effects of individual foot muscle morphology on balance may provide insights into neuromuscular balance control mechanisms. This study aimed to examine the correlation between the morphology of foot muscles and balance performance during single-leg standing. Twenty-eight recreational runners were recruited in this study. An ultrasound device was used to measure the thickness and cross-sectional area of three intrinsic foot muscles (abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum brevis and quadratus plantae) and peroneus muscles. Participants were required to perform 30s of single-leg standing for three trials on a force plate, which was used to record the center of pressure (COP). The standard deviation of the amplitude and ellipse area of the COP were calculated. In addition, stabilogram diffusion analysis (SDA) was performed on COP data. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to examine the correlation between foot muscle morphology and traditional COP parameters as well as with SDA parameters. Our results showed that larger abductor hallucis correlated to smaller COP sway, while larger peroneus muscles correlated to larger COP sway during single-leg standing. Larger abductor hallucis also benefited open-loop dynamic stability, as well as supported a more efficient transfer from open-loop to closed loop control mechanisms. These results suggest that the morphology of foot muscles plays an important role in balance performance, and that strengthening the intrinsic foot muscles may be an effective way to improve balance.
维持平衡在日常生活中至关重要。研究个体足部肌肉形态对平衡的影响，可能有助于深入了解神经肌肉平衡控制机制。本研究旨在探讨单腿站立时足部肌肉形态与平衡表现之间的相关性。本研究招募了28名业余跑步者。使用超声设备测量三块足部固有肌肉（拇展肌、趾短屈肌和跖方肌）以及腓骨肌的厚度和横截面积。参与者被要求在测力板上进行3次单腿站立，每次持续30秒，测力板用于记录压力中心（COP）。计算COP振幅和椭圆面积的标准差。此外，对COP数据进行了稳定图扩散分析（SDA）。计算Pearson相关系数，以检验足部肌肉形态与传统COP参数以及SDA参数之间的相关性。我们的结果表明，在单腿站立时，较大的拇展肌与较小的COP摆动相关，而较大的腓骨肌与较大的COP摆动相关。较大的拇展肌也有利于开环动态稳定性，并支持从开环到闭环控制机制的更有效转换。这些结果表明，足部肌肉形态在平衡表现中起重要作用，加强足部固有肌肉可能是改善平衡的有效方法。
