The Change of Walking by Improvement of Ankle Joint Excursion

A number of studies have been reported exammmg walking mechanisms, however the relationship between a walking mechanism (gait) and the presence of a deformed talus has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we conducted this study focusing on understanding the causal relationship between talus deformity and gait with reference to the description on the decrease of the driving force component in ground reaction force in Limited Range of Joint Motion: Mechanism and Treatment by Minoru Okita et al. The result of our study demonstrated that a deformed talus caused the following changes: first, it led to turning of the knee/ ankle joint which was caused by displacement of the ground reaction force movement locus from the ankle to the toe on the sole of the foot. Second, it reduced the step length by decreasing the ankle joint excursion in plantar flexion and dorsiflexion, by increasing ground reaction force when walking, and by the decrease of the driving force for toe off in the stance phase of walking. Moreover, it is possible to say that the study conducting with subjects including those who have pain in ankles and knees would clarify the relationship between the talus and walking mechanism in detail.