International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community (i-FAB): past, present and beyond

The International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community (i-FAB) is an international collaborative activity which will have an important impact on the foot and ankle biomechanics community. It was launched on July 2nd 2007 at the foot and ankle session of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. i-FAB is driven by the desire to improve our understanding of foot and ankle biomechanics as it applies to health, disease, and the design,development and evaluation of foot and ankle surgery, and interventions such as footwear, insoles and surfaces

Development of an artificial foot enabling the simulation of the natural behaviour of the human unroll of the foot during walking and running

From 3rd Congress of the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community Sydney, Australia. 11-13 April 201

Characterization of ankle function during stair ambulation

The aim of this study was to examine the ankle joint during level walking, stair ascent, and stair descent to determine models for use in the design of prosthetic and orthotic systems. Ten healthy subjects were asked to walk (1) across a level walkway, (2) up, and (3) down an instrumented stairway. Sagittal plane kinematic and kinetic data were analyzed to obtain ankle biomechanics during the stance phase of each task. Each stance phase was broken down into sub-phases based on the power trajectory. The ideal model was taken to be the simplest combination of mechanical elements (springs, dampers, and torque actuators) that could reproduce the patterns observed in ankle biomechanics. Besides, we studied the transitions from level walking to stair ascent and from stair descent to level walking and showed that mechanical elements can be used to model these transitions as well. These results are promising to the design of next generation ankle orthotic and prosthetic systems because they show that relatively simple mechanical elements can be utilized to mimic ankle biomechanics

Effects of rest intervals on lower extremity kinematics and coupling during the Star Excursion balance test

Meeting abstract From 4th Congress of the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Community Busan, Korea. 8-11 April 201

The effect of balance training on ankle proprioception in patients with functional ankle instability

Meeting Abstract From 4th Congress of the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Community Busan, Korea. 8-11 April 201

Ankle biomechanics testing device

Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Biomèdica. Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut. Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor/Director: Martín, Xavier, Martínez Lozano, JanAnkle biomechanics is one branch of medicine, more precisely of orthopaedics that is growing in the recent years. Ankle injuries due to ankle lateral ligament damage are causing Chronic Ankle Instability in more patients every year, this issue affect them in his daily life reducing their mobility. In addition, there are still different therapies that can be researched and tried in order to find a more appropriate treatment. This Bachelor’s Thesis wants to understand how ankle biomechanics works to be able to facilitate a useful instrument to do research in this sector in order to understand better how the ligaments forming this joint work and which are the possible treatments to heal these injuries. The methodology followed during the study has been divided in different parts. First of all, a thorough biographic research has been done in order to understand in which point is nowadays ankle’s biomechanics investigation. Afterwards, once it is known the state of technology of the sector, the development of hardware and software for the improvement of the prototype has been done. The final result, is the minimum functional device available now, with a new hardware and software composition. By taking as initial point the device created by Dr. Jan Martínez, the cuboid scaffold has been used, then Arduino Uno board and software has been installed in order to control the electric motors. However, this is only an initial study further investigations have to be done in order to have the final functional device. It will be needed to do a complete clinical trial in order to verify its functionality to obtain the CE validation for selling the medical device

Size of the abductor hallucis muscle in older women with hallux valgus

Abstract of paper that was presented at the 4th Congress of the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Community Busan, Korea, 8-11 April 2014

Tibial Compression During Activities of Daily Living in Young and Older Adults

Introduction: Stress fracture, particularly in the tibia, is a growing concern among older adults (greater than 65 years). Older adults may have inherent stress fracture risk from ageing-related changes to their musculoskeletal system. Specifically, older adults reduced ankle neuromuscular function may impair their ability to attenuate repetitive compressive forces experienced during daily locomotor tasks and increase the likelihood of suffering bone damage from decreased bone tissue elasticity. Yet, it is currently unknown if older adults exhibit greater tibial compression than their younger counterparts during locomotor tasks. Purpose: This study sought to quantify tibial compression for older and younger adults when walking and negotiating stairs and determine whether tibial compression is related to specific ankle biomechanics. Methods: 13 young (ages 18-25 years) and 13 older (greater than 65 years) adults had tibial compression, and ankle joint stiffness and biomechanics (peak joint angle and moment) quantified during an overground walk, and stair ascent and descent tasks. Statistical Analysis: Maximum and impulse of tibial compression, ankle joint stiffness, and peak of stance (0-100%) ankle flexion joint angle and moment were submitted to an independent t-test to assess the difference between young and older adults during each task. Then, correlation analysis determined the relation between tibial compression and ankle biomechanics for all participants, as well as the young and older adults. Results: Neither tibial compression (maximum and impulse), nor ankle biomechanics (joint stiffness, moment, and angle) differed between young and older adults (all: p \u3e 0.05) during the walk and stair ascent tasks. However, older adults exhibited ~15% smaller maximum tibial compression (p = 0.004) and ~10% peak ankle joint moment (p = 0.037) compared to young adults during the stair descent. Peak ankle flexion moment exhibited a moderate to strong relation with maximum tibial compression during each task (overground walk: r = -0.69 ± 0.26; stair descent: r = -0.48 ± 0.32; stair ascent: r = -0.72 ± 0.25, respectively). Yet, older adults typically exhibited stronger relation between ankle biomechanics and tibial compression than their younger counterparts. Specifically, older adults exhibited a moderate linear relation between ankle joint stiffness and peak ankle joint moment with impulse of tibial compression during the walk (r = 0.44 ± 0.48 and r = -0.47 ± 0.47), and peak ankle joint moment with maximum tibial compression (r = -0.48 ± 0.47) during stair descent task; whereas young adults exhibited a weak relation between the same ankle biomechanical and tibial compression measures (r = 0.23, -0.20, and - 0.27, respectively) during the walk and stair descent tasks. Conclusion: Older adults exhibited a substantial, albeit statistically insignificant, 3% to 10% increase in impulse of tibial compression compared to young adults. The elevated compression impulse may place larger compressive forces on older adult’s tibia, increasing likelihood of bone microdamage accumulation and stress fracture development. Yet, despite exhibiting a stronger relation between ankle biomechanics and tibial compression than their younger counterparts, there was not a specific alteration in older adults’ ankle biomechanics that may predict the substantial change in their tibial compressio

Rearfoot kinematics in distance runners: association with overuse injuries

Distance runners suffer often from overuse injures, caused by excessive pronation or supinating foot. The purpose of this study was to compare the rearfoot kinematics and the questionnaire results of incidences of overuse injuries symptoms. Fourteen distance runners, who were distributed into the more-symptomatic (MSL, n = 7) and less-symptomatic (LSL, n = 7) groups according to the questionnaire participated in this study. The subjects ran at average speed 3.79 m·s–1 on the 5,8 m runway with four markers set on rearfoot and shank, and kinematics were determined using the motion analysis system with 6 and 8 cameras. For the rearfoot kinematics analysis the angles between calcaneus and shank in both legs were measured: angle at impact; maximum angle; the pronation amplitude; time from impact to maximum angle; time from maximum angle to toe-off supination. The pronation amplitude in the right foot was greater (p < 0.05) in MSL compared to LSL group (5.5º and 8.2º, respectively; p = 0.02). The other measured parameters did not differ significantly between the groups. We concluded that the variations in rearfoot kinematics cannot be the reasons for causing the symptoms of overuse and their origin should be searched from training errors