The Immediate Effects of Rollover Footwear on Standing Posture of Head and Neck and Trunk in Healthy Females

Introduction: Footwear with a curved “rollover” sole is prescribed to improve walking capability. Shoes with a curved sole profile have been reported to alter ankle, knee and hip kinematics and posture and thought to able to modify head and neck, and trunk posture. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of rollover footwear on standing posture of head and neck, and trunk in healthy females.
Materials and Methods: Ten healthy female volunteers were recruited (mean age 24.5 ± 1.8). Three dimensional positions of 11 retro-reflective markers attached over spinal column and forehead were recorded using 7 motion capture camera system (100 Hz) during standing under two randomized.
Results: rollover footwear compared to the barefoot condition, decreased significantly the radius of lumbar curve by 11.24% (P = 0.006). The radius of thoracic curve increased by 4.45% wearing rollover footwear but this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.460). The sagittal angle of head and neck relative to the transverse plane did not change significantly (P = 0.470).
Conclusion: (1) barefoot; (2) Rollover footwear. Each condition repeated 3 times. Head and trunk posture in the sagittal plane were quantified using the lumbar and thoracic radii and sagittal angle between head and neck, and the laboratory transverse plane. The results were statistically analyzed using the paired t-test test and P < 0.05 was considered for statistical significance of differences.