Browsing by Author "Tidbury, Gabriela Bella"

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    Plantar foot loading patterns of healthy weight and overweight school children from South Africa and Germany
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Tidbury, Gabriela Bella; Venter, Ranel; Hollander, Karsten; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. Sport Science
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Background: Excessive plantar loading (peak pressures) can possibly cause deterioration of the soft tissue such as the fat pads in the foot during locomotion (Mickle, Steele & Munro, 2006). This can increase the risk for developing foot pathologies in adults and children (Yan et al., 2013). It is speculated that foot pain experienced by overweight individuals results from the higher mechanical loading of their feet because of the additional body weight they carry (Butterworth et al., 2015). Objective: The current study investigated the plantar loading differences between the healthy weight and overweight children aged 10 to 13 years from South Africa. An additional investigation was carried out to determine the plantar loading differences between children aged 10 to 13 years from Germany and South Africa of the same weight category. Methods: The current study followed a descriptive cross sectional study design. A random stratified sample of four schools were randomly selected from five regions within the Western Cape. Plantar loading measurements were obtained from 178 children (mean age 12.3 ± 1.2 years; body weight 49.2 ± 12.2kg; height 1.56 ± 0.01m; n = 178 of which 87 were girls and 91 boys) from South Africa and 139 children (mean age 12.3 ± 0.1 years; body weight 47.3 ± 1.0kg; height 1.55 ± 0.01m; n = 139 of which 61 were girls and 78 boys) from Germany with the Emed n50 pressure platform using the two-step method at a self-selected walking speed. Peak pressure, pressure-time integral, force-time integral and contact area variables were investigated for nine regions of the foot. In addition, the children were categorised into a heathy weight category or overweight category according to their body mass index (BMI) (Cole & Lobstein, 2012). A mixed model linear regression was used to analyse the data. The level of significance was adjusted from p = 0.05 by using a Šidák correction to: p = 0.0057. Results: The overweight category of children from South Africa had statistically significantly higher peak pressure, pressure-time integral, force-time integral and contact area for most of the foot regions than the healthy weight children from South Africa. The German children had significantly higher peak pressure, pressure-time integral and force-time integral values than the South African children of the same weight category. Interestingly, the healthy weight South African children had significantly greater contact area for most regions of the foot compared to the healthy weight German children. Conclusion: Body weight is a primary factor influencing plantar loading values (of overweight children). It is possible that the significant differences found in the midfoot region of the overweight children compared to healthy weight children could have been influenced by structural foot differences such as additional fat mass of the medial longitudinal arch or structurally lowered medial longitudinal arch of the foot. It is possible that the plantar loading differences between the German and South African children are a result of structural foot differences.