The effect of insoles application on foot load distribution andfunctional capacity in children between 4 and 8 years with pes planovalgus

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of insoles on foot load distribution and functional capacity in children with pes planovalgus (PPV) aged 4-8 years. In our study, 27 children with PPV constituted the treatment group and 26 normal (healthy) children constituted the control group. After recording demographic information, the Oxford Foot-Ankle Questionnaire (OxAFQ) was administered to both children and their parents to measure their quality of life. Evaluations were started by measuring navicular height (NY) and subtalar angle for all children. In order to evaluate the foot load distribution, the measurements of the feet of both the treatment and control groups were taken with a gait analyzer. For functional capacity, 2-Minute Walking Test (2-MWT) was applied to both groups. After insole production, static measurements with insoles and 2-MWT were repeated in the treatment group. An appointment was made for control after 3 months of insoles use. All the evaluations made on the children who came to the control were applied again. While the use of insoles did not have a positive effect on NY (p>0.05), it was found to have an effect on the improvement of valgus angles (p<0.05). In the instantaneous evaluation of the load distribution, an equal distribution was observed in the front-rear load distributions, different from the control group data. There was no difference after three months of insoles treatment (p>0.05). It was determined that the use of insoles had an effect on improvement in functional capacity by increasing the amount of distance walked in 3 months (p<0.05). It was determined that the physical and game scores of the quality of life evaluated with the OxAFQ Questionnaire increased and the emotional score decreased (p<0.05). It was observed that the application of insoles resulted in improvement in valgus angle, symmetry in foot load distribution and improvement in functional capacity in children with PPV. We think that studies in which dynamic measurements with and without insoles will be useful.