Abstract
Introduction
Partial weight bearing is part of treatment schemes in orthopedic surgery and traumatology.
The aim of the present study was to explore to what degree ground reaction forces
during partial weight bearing of the lower leg are related to given instructions and
to tibia deformation.
Materials and methods
Tibia deformation (torsion, medio-lateral and anterio-posterior bending) was measured
for rear foot and forefoot loading, 10 kg, 20 kg and half body weight instructions compared to full loading in five healthy male
subjects using the “Optical Segment Tracking” approach, a motion-capturing based method
that uses monocortically fixed bone screws.
Results
1. Ground reaction force was a good indicator of tibia deformation. 2. Participants
significantly under-loaded during half-body weight instructions (P < 0.001) while they overloaded when loading the forefoot only. 3. Partial-loading instructions
led to a highly significant and systematic reduction in peak ground reaction force
(GRFpk) in all three types of tibia deformation with substantial variation between
measurements. 4. Forefoot usage was associated with significant, albeit moderate increases
in GRFpk (P = 0.0031), in AP-bending (P = 0.0027) and in torsion (P < 0.001), compared to rear foot loading.
Discussion
These findings result in the following clinical “lessons learned”: 1. GRF is a good
reflection of loading-induced deformation of the tibia. 2. GRFs are hard to control
by subjects/patients. 3. The expectation that forefoot-loading results in larger tibia
deformation could not be confirmed in our study. 4. When aiming at a reduction in
tibia deformation, rear-foot loading is more preferable than forefoot loading.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 02, 2016
Identification
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© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
