Journal of Foot and Ankle Research

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to analyse the effect of early weight bearing versus late weight bearing on rehabilitation outcomes after ankle fractures, which primarily include ankle function scores, time to return to work/daily life and complication rates. METHODS: The China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Science and Technology Journal, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were searched...

BACKGROUND: Factors associated with falls after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have been rarely reported. The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence the incidence of falls after TKA, focusing on toe grip strength (TGS) in particular, which has been associated with falls in older adults. METHODS: 217 patients who underwent TKA were included and followed up for 1 year. Main study outcome measures were the presence or absence of falls within 1 year after TKA...

BACKGROUND: Diabetes-related foot disease (DFD) is a leading cause of the Australian and global disease burdens and requires proportionate volumes of research to address. Bibliometric analyses are rigorous methods for exploring total research publications in a field to help identify volume trends, gaps and emerging areas of need. This bibliometric review aimed to explore the volume, authors, institutions, journals, collaborating countries, research types and funding sources of Australian publications investigating DFD over 50 years...

BACKGROUND: This study examined the efficacy of an interdisciplinary limb preservation service (LPS) in improving surgical outcomes for diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) patients compared to traditional care. METHODS: Data from January 1, 2017 to September 30, 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. An interdisciplinary LPS clinic began on August 1, 2018, coexisting with a preexisting single specialty service. Primary outcomes were major/minor amputation rates and ratios and hospital length of stay...

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BACKGROUND: Burnout is highly prevalent among health practitioners. It negatively impacts job performance, patient care, career retention and psychological well-being. This study aimed to identify factors associated with burnout among Australian podiatrists. METHODS: Data were collected from registered podiatrists via four online surveys administered annually from 2017 to 2020 as part of the Podiatrists in Australia: Investigating Graduate Employment (PAIGE) study...

BACKGROUND: Foot health services for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are an important part of their comprehensive care. However, little is known about the perceptions of people with RA have about foot health services. This study aimed to explore how people with RA perceive foot health services. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was applied. The electronic survey data were collected in April 2023 from people with RA through a national patients' association (N = 2400, response rate 24%, n = 565)...

OBJECTIVE: Given the ability of ultrasound imaging (USI) to depict tissue-specific morphological changes before the onset of pain and before the point of irreversible structural damage, USI could play a fundamental role in earlier detection and assessment of foot osteoarthritis (OA). The current guidelines require further refinement of anatomical landmarks to establish a standardized imaging procedure to improve the interpretability and reproducibility between studies evaluating the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ)...

BACKGROUND: To determine the effects of negative heel shoes on perceived pain and knee biomechanical characteristics of runners with patellofemoral pain (PFP) during running. METHODS: Sixteen runners with PFP ran in negative (-11 mm drops) and positive (5 mm drops) heel shoes while visual analog scale (VAS) scores, retroreflective markers, and ground reaction force were acquired by applying a 10-cm VAS, infrared motion capture system, and a three-dimensional force plate...

BACKGROUND: Diabetes-related foot disease (DFD) is a common, costly, and severe complication of diabetes mellitus. DFD is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality and poses a significant burden on patients, healthcare systems and society. While the detrimental impact of DFD is widely recognised, the precise financial implications of its management in Australia remain unclear due to inconsistent and inconclusive contemporary data. Therefore, the aim of this review was to identify, summarise and synthesise existing evidence to estimate the costs associated with DFD management in Australia...

BACKGROUND: Supination resistance is a clinical outcome that estimates the amount of external force required to supinate the foot. A greater supination resistance may indicate greater loads on structures responsible for generating internal supination moments across the subtalar joint during static and dynamic tasks. As such, greater supination resistance may be an expected finding in medial foot and ankle musculoskeletal disorders, such as plantar fasciopathy (PF) and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD), whereas reduced supination resistance may be present in lateral ankle disorders, such as chronic ankle instability (CAI)...

BACKGROUND: Floating toes are a condition and deformity in which some of the toes are afloat. Many functional impairments in floating toes have been previously studied lately and several factors related to floating toes have also been reported. However, no reports have considered the relationship between lifestyle and floating toes among children. The purpose of this study was to reveal the prevalence of floating toes among school children and reveal its relationship with lifestyle. METHODS: In total, 138 young male baseball players were recruited...

BACKGROUND: Patients with painful ankle osteoarthritis (OA) have a mixed experience of non-surgical management which they may attribute to a lack of guidance for clinicians on usual care treatment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to survey the current clinical practices of UK-based physiotherapists and podiatrists for the treatment of painful ankle osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: UK-based physiotherapists and podiatrists who treat patients with ankle OA completed a self-administered online questionnaire about their professional and clinical service characteristics, diagnostic criteria, treatment aims, preferred treatment options, and treatment outcome measures...

INTRODUCTION: People with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and limited joint mobility syndrome (LJMS) can experience increased forefoot peak plantar pressures (PPPs), a known risk factor for ulceration. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ankle and 1st metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint mobilisations and home-based stretches in people with DPN improve joint range of motion (ROM) and reduce forefoot PPPs. DESIGN AND METHODS: Sixty-one people with DPN (IWGDF risk 2), were randomly assigned to a 6-week programme of ankle and 1st MTP joint mobilisations (n = 31) and home-based stretches or standard care only (n = 30)...

BACKGROUND: Soft tissue swelling assessment benefits from a reproducible and easy to use measurement method. Monitoring of the injured lower extremity is of clinical import during staged soft tissue management. Portable 3D scanners offer a novel and precise option to quantify and contrast the shapes and volumes of the injured and contralateral uninjured limbs. This study determined three regions of interest (ROI) within the lower extremity (lower leg, ankle and foot), that can be used to evaluate 3D volumetric assessment for staged soft tissue management in orthopedic and trauma surgery...

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, gait analysis studies record the foot as a single rigid segment, leaving movements and loads within the foot undetected. In addition, very few data of multi-segment foot kinetics have been represented in the literature due to measurement and equipment limitations. As a result, this study aims to develop a novel multi-segment kinetic foot model that is clinically feasible and enables both kinematic and kinetic analysis of large patient groups. RESULTS: Outcome measurements include rotation angles of intersegmental dorsi/plantar flexion, inversion/eversion, and internal/external rotation, joint moments, joint powers and the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) height/length ratio...

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive insight into the effects of subtalar- and mid-tarsal joint osteoarthritis on lower limb's biomechanical characteristics during walking is lacking. Our goal was to assess joint kinematics and kinetics and compensatory mechanisms in patients with subtalar and mid-tarsal joint osteoarthritis. METHODS: Patients with symptomatic and radiographically confirmed osteoarthritis of the subtalar and mid-tarsal (n = 10) and an asymptomatic control group (n = 10) were compared...

BACKGROUND: This report aims to present a novel system for the management of foot lesions in patients with diabetes. It was developed in the diabetic foot unit (DFU) of the Mutua de Terrassa University Hospital (HUMT) by primary care professionals, the Diabetic Foot Clinic (DFC), and during emergency cases treated by our group based on daily activities in patients with neuropathy or neuroischemia. BODY: This system considers five degrees of action based on two fixed variables: presence of infection and lesion depth...

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) affecting the knee or hip is highly prevalent in the general population and has associated high disease burden. Early identification of modifiable risk factors that prevent, limit, or resolve disease symptoms is critical. Foot pain may represent a potentially modifiable factor however little is known about the prevalence of foot pain in people with knee or hip OA nor whether foot pain is associated with clinical characteristics. The main aim of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence of foot pain in people with knee or hip OA attending an education and supervised exercise-based intervention in Denmark (GLA:D®) and determine if baseline demographic or clinical characteristics are associated with foot pain...

BACKGROUND: Numerous conditions are grouped under the generic term exercise-induced leg pain (EILP), yet clear diagnostic guidelines are lacking. This scoping review was conducted to clarify the definition and diagnostic criteria of nine commonly occurring EILP conditions. METHODS: Three online databases were searched from inception to April 2022 for any English language original manuscripts identifying, describing, or assessing the clinical presentation and diagnostic criteria of the nine most common conditions that cause EILP...