Bodymap wetenschappelijke onderbouw

Vestibular stimulation and primitive reflex integration may drive multisensory processing: putative principles for a Targeted sensorimotor therapy (TSMT)

Szilvia Harsanyi

Debreceni Egyetem

Karoly Dobos

Debreceni Egyetem

Brigitta Tele-Heri

Debreceni Egyetem

Judit Palinkas

Debreceni Egyetem

Fanni Fenyosi

BHRG Foundation

Csaba E More

Debreceni Egyetem

Judit Zsuga (  zsuga.judit@med.unideb.hu )

Growing-up (habitually) barefoot influences the development of foot and arch morphology in children and adolescents

Karsten Hollander,¹ Johanna Elsabe de Villiers,^1,2 Susanne Sehner,³ Karl Wegscheider,³ Klaus-Michael Braumann,¹Ranel Venter,² and  Astrid Zech⁴

Especially in the first years of life, the arch height of habitually shod children increases, eventually becoming relatively stable after they reach 7 years of age¹⁵. Therefore, habitual barefootedness may be especially influential during a child’s growing years, leading to the hypothesis that the influence of footwear use may change as long as the feet are growing. Accordingly, a large cohort of habitually barefoot and shod children and adolescents from different age groups is needed in order to investigate if regular shoe use (or regular barefoot locomotion) in the early stages of life influences the anthropometric foot characteristics of children. Such an epidemiological approach should fill the gap in the current research on long-term effects of regular barefoot locomotion.

This study’s main hypothesis was to compare key components of foot characteristics (foot and arch morphology, hallux angles and pliability) between habitually barefoot and habitually shod children and adolescents during different stages of development. With regard to the currently available body of research, we hypothesized that habitually barefoot children would have higher foot arches, reduced hallux angles and increased foot pliability than their shod counterparts.

JAMES R. LACKNER AND PAUL DIZIO