Comparison of Subjects with and without Pes Planus during Short Foot Exercises by Measuring Muscular Activities of Ankle and Navicular Drop Height

PURPOSE: Despite the abundant literature available regarding the activity of intrinsic muscles, few studies have investigated the muscle activity of extrinsic muscles. Therefore, the present study compared the muscle activity of the peroneus longus, tibialis anterior, and abductor hallucis during short foot exercise in subjects with and without flat feet. METHODS: Twelve subjects with and without pes planus participated in this study. During the short foot exercises, muscular activity of the tibialis anterior, fibularis longus, and abductor hallucis longus were measured in both groups. To identify the effects of short foot exercises, navicular drop height was also investigated in pre and post short foot exercises. RESULTS: In a symptomatic group, the navicular drop height was significantly reduced at post measurement compared with pre-measurement. During the short foot exercise, the pes planus group showed significantly lower activities of the fibularis longus than the control group (p<.05). CONCLUSION: Similar to previous studies and clinical literature, short foot exercise was effective for alleviating navicular drop for a population with pes planus. In addition, subjects with pes planus showed decreased muscular activities of the fibularis longus, which suggests that considering extrinsic muscles such as fibularis longus is also important for rehabilitation of pes planus patients.