Characteristics of Plantar Pressure with Foot Postures and Lower Limb Pain Profiles in Taiwanese College Elite Rugby League Athletes

Tong-Hsien Chow, Yih-Shyuan Chen, Chin-Chia Hsu and Chin-Hsien Hsu
Additional contact information
Tong-Hsien Chow: Department of Leisure Sport and Health Management, St. John’s University, New Taipei 25135, Taiwan
Yih-Shyuan Chen: Department of Education, National Pingtung University, Pingtung 900391, Taiwan
Chin-Chia Hsu: Department of Leisure Sport and Health Management, St. John’s University, New Taipei 25135, Taiwan
Chin-Hsien Hsu: Department of Leisure Industry Management, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 41170, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Background: This study aimed to explore the differences in the distributions of plantar pressure in static and dynamic states and assess the possible pain profiles in the lower limb between elite rugby league athletes and recreational rugby players. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 51 college elite rugby athletes and 57 recreational rugby players was undertaken. The arch index (AI) and plantar pressure distributions (PPDs) with footprint characteristics were evaluated via the JC Mat. Rearfoot alignment was examined to evaluate the static foot posture. The elite group’s lower-limb pain profiles were examined for evaluating the common musculoskeletal pain areas. Results: The recreational group’s AI values fell into the normal range, whereas the elite group’s arch type fell into the category of the low arch. Results from the elite group were: (1) the PPDs mainly exerted on the entire forefoot and lateral midfoot regions in static standing, and transferred to the forefoot region during the midstance phase of walking; (2) the static rearfoot alignment matched the varus posture pattern; (3) the footprint characteristics illustrated the features of low-arched, supinated, dropped metatarsal heads and dropped cuboid feet; and (4) the phalanx and metatarsophalangeal joints, and the abductor hallucis and abductor digiti minimi of the plantar plate were common musculoskeletal pain areas. Conclusions: Characteristics of higher plantar loads beneath forefoot and midfoot associated with low-arched supinated feet in bipedal static stance could be the traceable features for the foot diagram of elite rugby league athletes. The limb pain profiles of the elite rugby league athletes within this study echoed the literature on rugby injuries, and reflected the features of metatarsophalangeal joint pains and dropped cuboids. The relationships among the low-arched supinated feet, metatarsophalangeal joint pains and cuboid syndrome are worth further studies.

Keywords: elite rugby league athletes; arch index (AI); plantar pressure distributions (PPDs); low-arched supinated feet; cuboid syndrome (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1158/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1158/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1158-:d:729566

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().