The University of Sydney, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Lidcombe, New South Wales, 2141, Australia.
The University of Sydney, Concord Clinical School, Concord, New South Wales, 2139, Australia.
J Foot Ankle Res. 2020 Jul 13;13(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s13047-020-00394-z.
Foot muscle weakness can produce foot deformity, pain and disability. Toe flexor and foot arch exercises focused on intrinsic foot muscle strength and functional control may mitigate the progression of foot deformity and disability. Ensuring correct exercise technique is challenging due to the specificity of muscle activation required to complete some foot exercises. Biofeedback has been used to improve adherence, muscle activity and movement patterns. We investigated the feasibility of using a novel medical device, known as "Archercise", to provide real-time biofeedback of correct arch movement via pressure change in an inflatable bladder, and foot location adherence via sensors embedded in a footplate during four-foot exercises.
Thirty adults (63% female, aged 23-68 years) performed four-foot exercises twice on the Archercise sensor footplate alone and then with biofeedback. One-way repeated measures ANOVA with pairwise comparisons were computed to assess the consistency of the exercise protocol between trial 1 and trial 2 (prior to biofeedback), and the effectiveness of the Archercise biofeedback device between trial 2 and trial 3 (with biofeedback). Outcome measures were: Arch movement exercises of arch elevation and lowering speed, controlled arch elevation, controlled arch lowering, endurance of arch elevation; Foot location adherence was determined by percentage of time the great toe, fifth toe and heel contacted footplate sensors during testing and were analysed with paired sample t-tests. Participant survey comments on the use of Archercise with biofeedback were reported thematically.
Seventeen (89%) arch movement and foot location variables were collected consistently with Archercise during the foot exercises. Archercise with biofeedback improved foot location adherence for all exercises (p = 0.003-0.008), coefficient of determination for controlled arch elevation (p < 0.0001) and endurance area ratio (p = 0.001). Twenty-nine (97%) participants reported Archercise with biofeedback, helped correct exercise performance.
Archercise is a feasible biofeedback device to assist healthy participants without foot pathologies perform foot doming exercises.
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): 12616001559404. Registered 11 November 2016, http://www.ANZCTR.org.au/ACTRN12616001559404p.aspx.
足部肌肉无力会导致足部畸形、疼痛和残疾。针对内在足部肌肉力量和功能控制的脚趾屈肌和足弓运动，可能会减缓足部畸形和残疾的进展。由于完成某些足部运动所需的肌肉激活的特异性，确保正确的运动技术具有挑战性。生物反馈已被用于提高依从性、肌肉活动和运动模式。我们研究了一种新型医疗设备（称为“Archercise”）的可行性，该设备通过充气膀胱中的压力变化提供正确足弓运动的实时生物反馈，通过嵌入足板中的传感器提供足部位置依从性，用于进行四足运动。
30 名成年人（63%为女性，年龄 23-68 岁）两次单独在 Archercise 传感器足板上进行四足运动，然后进行生物反馈。采用单向重复测量方差分析和两两比较来评估试验 1（进行生物反馈之前）和试验 2（进行生物反馈之后）之间运动方案的一致性，以及 Archercise 生物反馈设备在试验 2 和试验 3（进行生物反馈之后）之间的有效性。测量指标为：足弓抬高和降低速度、受控足弓抬高、受控足弓降低、足弓抬高耐力；足部位置依从性通过测试时大脚趾、第五脚趾和脚跟接触足板传感器的时间百分比确定，并采用配对样本 t 检验进行分析。参与者对使用带有生物反馈的 Archercise 的评价意见以主题形式报告。
在足部运动期间，17 项（89%）足弓运动和足部位置变量与 Archercise 一致。带有生物反馈的 Archercise 改善了所有运动的足部位置依从性（p=0.003-0.008），受控足弓抬高的决定系数（p<0.0001）和耐力面积比（p=0.001）。29 名（97%）参与者报告称，带有生物反馈的 Archercise 有助于纠正运动表现。
Archercise 是一种可行的生物反馈设备，可以帮助没有足部病理的健康参与者进行足弓抬高运动。
澳大利亚和新西兰临床试验注册中心（ANZCTR）：12616001559404。2016 年 11 月 11 日注册，http://www.ANZCTR.org.au/ACTRN12616001559404p.aspx。
