Evaluation of ankle inverter and evertor muscle activation on different surfaces of cases with LOW medial longitudinal ARC

The primary aim of this study is to compare the effects of single leg balancing (SLB) and single leg squat (SLS) exercises on the activation of the muscles around the ankle in patients with low medial longitudinal arch (LMLA). The secondary aim of the study is to examine the effect of the stiffness of the rehabilitation material on muscle activation in patients with LMLA and healthy controls (HC). Twelve patients with LMLA and 18 healthy individuals between the ages of 18-35 were included in the study. The navicular drop test was used to determine LMLA. Participants were asked to perform the SLB and SLS exercises on three "Theraband Stability Trainers" of different stiffness [green (hard), blue (soft), black (very soft)]. Activation of the peroneus longus (PL), peroneus brevis (PB), tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) muscles during the exercises was evaluated by surface electromyography. The changes caused by surface and exercise differences in muscle activation were examined with "Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA)". As a result of the study, it was seen that SLB exercise performed on very soft ground was more effective than SLS in increasing the activation of MG and LG in HC. In cases with LMLA, on the other hand, SLB exercise performed on soft and very soft ground was more effective than SLS in increasing the activation of LG muscle. It was observed that performing the SLB exercise on soft ground rather than hard ground was more effective in increasing the activation of PB and LG muscles in HC. In cases with LMLA, performing SLS exercise on very soft ground instead of hard ground causes more muscular activation in PB, TA and MG. In conclusion, the change in the stiffness of the rehabilitation material used during SLB and SLS exercises in cases with LMLA does not cause a change in the muscular activation of the PL. In addition, SLS exercise performed on soft and very soft ground is more effective than SLB exercise in strengthening the TA muscle in cases with LMLA.