Abstract
Foot arch plays an important role in bearing body weight, absorbing ground reaction
forces and maintaining balance, and its structure and function are bound to have a
profound effect on physical activities and sports. Arch height and arch stiffness
are 2 factors that represent the structure and function of the arch. Therefore, the
purpose of this study was to explore the associations of arch height and arch stiffness
with physical performance. A total of 56 men (aged 49.00 ± 7.95 years, mean body mass
index [BMI] 26.80 ± 3.75 kg/m2) participated in this study. A 3-dimensional laser scanner was employed to obtain
foot structure information of each participant, from which the arch height index (AHI)
and arch stiffness index (ASI) were computed. Physical performance measures including
agility, power, and proprioception were tested in a random order. The results indicated
that the stepping forward and backward and vertical jump that represent agility and
force respectively were negatively and significantly associated with AHI (r = -0.27,
p = .045; r = -0.35, p = .009). When adjusted for age and BMI, only height of vertical jump was found to
be correlated significantly with AHI (r = -0.29, p = .040); while no significant relationships were observed between physical performance
measures and ASI. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that AHI, age, and
BMI can effectively predict the height of vertical jump. This study demonstrates that
there is a negative correlation between arch height and muscle power of lower limbs
in adult men.
Level of Clinical Evidence
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 22, 2021
Footnotes
Financial Disclosure: The research was sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12002177) and K.C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University.
Conflict of Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this manuscript.
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