Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.
Department of Trauma, Orthopedic and Plastic Surgery, University Hospital of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Jan 20;58(2):154. doi: 10.3390/medicina58020154.
The foot comprises of active contractile and passive connective tissue components, which help maintain stability and facilitate movement during gait. The role of age- or pathology-related degeneration and the presence of fat within muscles in foot function and pain remains unclear. The existence of fat has to date not been quantified or compared between individuals according to age, sex, side or subregion. 18 cadaveric feet (mean age 79 years) were sectioned sagittally and photographed bilaterally. Fat in the plantar muscular space of the foot (PMSF) was quantified through the previously validated manual fat quantification method, which involved observing photographs of each section and identifying regions using OsiriX. Fat volume and percentage was calculated using a modified Cavalieri's method. All feet had fat located within the PMSF, averaging 25.8% (range, 16.5-39.4%) of the total PMSF volume. The presence of fat was further confirmed with plastination and confocal microscopy. These findings suggest that fat within the PMSF is a consistent but highly variable finding in elderly cohorts. Fat within the foot muscles may need to be considered a norm when comparing healthy and non-healthy subjects, and for therapeutic interventions to the foot. Further work is required to understand in detail the morphological and mechanical presence of fat in the foot, and compare these findings with pathological cohorts, such as sarcopenia. Additionally, future work should investigate if fat may compensate for the degeneration of the intrinsic muscles of the foot, with implications for both the use of orthotics and pain management.
足部由活跃的收缩性和被动的结缔组织成分组成，这些成分有助于在步态中保持稳定性并促进运动。年龄相关或病理学相关的退化以及肌肉内脂肪的存在对足部功能和疼痛的影响尚不清楚。迄今为止，尚未根据年龄、性别、侧别或亚区对个体之间的脂肪存在进行量化或比较。 18 具尸体足（平均年龄 79 岁）被矢状切开并双侧拍照。通过先前验证的手动脂肪量化方法量化足底肌间隙（PMSF）中的脂肪，该方法涉及观察每个切片的照片并使用 OsiriX 识别区域。使用改良的 Cavalieri 方法计算脂肪体积和百分比。 所有足部都在 PMSF 内有脂肪，平均占 PMSF 总容积的 25.8%（范围 16.5-39.4%）。通过塑化和共聚焦显微镜进一步证实了脂肪的存在。 这些发现表明，在老年人群中，PMSF 内的脂肪是一种一致但高度可变的发现。在比较健康和非健康受试者以及足部治疗干预时，需要考虑足部肌肉内的脂肪是一种常态。需要进一步的工作来详细了解足部脂肪的形态和机械存在，并将这些发现与病理队列（如肌肉减少症）进行比较。此外，未来的工作应该研究脂肪是否可以补偿足部内在肌肉的退化，这对矫形器的使用和疼痛管理都有影响。
