Open AccessDoes pes planus influence standing balance in elementary school-age children?
Author(s) -
Mária Takács,
Gergely Nagymáté,
Rita M. Kiss
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
biomechanica hungarica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2060-4475
pISSN - 2060-0305
DOI - 10.17489/biohun/2019/1/01
Subject(s) - balance (ability) , flexibility (engineering) , medicine , pes planus , significant difference , physical therapy , mathematics , surgery , statistics , complication
Purpose: No any research in literature was found to investigate the effect of pes planus on standing balance in school-aged children. Any kind of change in the arches (height, flexibility) may increase the possibility of a change in standing balance. The aim of present study is to determine the influence of pes planus on the standing balance of school-aged children based on independent time-distance and frequency based parameters. Materials and Methods: Subjects included 177 children (105 neutral and 72 with pes planus). The parameters were determined from the motion of the centre of pressure (COP) on a platform equipped with pressure gauge sensors, on which the subjects were standing for 60 seconds with both feet and open eyes. Results: When comparing the neutral and pes planus groups, none of the 17 time-distance and frequency based parameters showed any significant difference (p≥0.169). Conclusion: The results show that pes planus does not affect significantly standing balance; the differences (however not significant) between the two groups showed a poorer postural control in school-aged children with pes planus. It may be compensated by the increased ML dimension of the base of support.