Wiley

Approximately one-quarter of the population are affected by foot pain at any given time. It is often disabling and can impair mood, behaviour, self-care ability and overall quality of life. Currently, the nature and mechanism underlying many types of foot pain is not clearly understood. Here we comprehensively review the literature on foot pain, with specific reference to its definition, prevalence, aetiology and predictors, classification, measurement and impact. We also discuss the complexities of foot pain as a sensory, emotional and psychosocial experience in the context of clinical practice, therapeutic trials and the placebo effect. A deeper understanding of foot pain is needed to identify causal pathways, classify diagnoses, quantify severity, evaluate long term implications and better target clinical intervention.

Posterior Heel pain can present in children of 8 to 14 years, associated with or clinically diagnosed as Sever's disease, or calcaneal apophysitis. Presently, there are no comparative randomised studies evaluating treatment options for posterior heel pain in children with the clinical diagnosis of calcaneal apophysitis or Sever's disease. This study seeks to compare the clinical efficacy of some currently employed treatment options for the relief of disability and pain associated with posterior heel pain in children. Design: Factorial 2 × 2 randomised controlled trial with monthly follow-up for 3 months. Participants: Children with clinically diagnosed posterior heel pain possibly associated with calcaneal apophysitis/Sever's disease (n = 124). Interventions: Treatment factor 1 will be two types of shoe orthoses: a heel raise or prefabricated orthoses. Both of these interventions are widely available, mutually exclusive treatment approaches that are relatively low in cost. Treatment factor 2 will be a footwear prescription/replacement intervention involving a shoe with a firm heel counter, dual density EVA midsole and rear foot control. The alternate condition in this factor is no footwear prescription/replacement, with the participant wearing their current footwear. Outcomes: Oxford Foot and Ankle Questionnaire and the Faces pain scale. This will be a randomised trial to compare the efficacy of various treatment options for posterior heel pain in children that may be associated with calcaneal apophysitis also known as Sever's disease. Trial Number: ACTRN12609000696291 Ethics Approval Southern Health: HREC Ref: 09271B

The Cochrane review of hallux valgus surgery has disputed the scientific validity of hallux valgus research. Scoring systems and surrogate measures such as x-ray angles are commonly reported at just one year post operatively but these are of dubious relevance to the patient. In this study we extended the follow up to a minimum of 8 years and sought to address patient specific concerns with hallux valgus surgery. The long term follow up also allowed a comprehensive review of the complications associated with the combined rotation scarf and Akin osteotomies. Between 1996 and 1999, 101 patients underwent rotation scarf and Akin osteotomies for the treatment of hallux valgus. All patients were contacted and asked to participate in this study. 50 female participants were available allowing review of 73 procedures. The average follow up was over 9 years and the average age at the time of surgery was 57. The participants were physically examined and interviewed. Post-operatively, in 86% of the participants there were no footwear restrictions. Stiffness of the first metatarsophalangeal joint was reported in 8% (6 feet); 10% were unhappy with the cosmetic appearance of their feet, 3 feet had hallux varus, and 2 feet had recurrent hallux valgus. There were no foot-related activity restrictions in 92% of the group. Metatarsalgia occurred in 4% (3 feet). 96% were better than before surgery and 88% were completely satisfied with their post-operative result. Hallux varus was the greatest single cause of dissatisfaction. The most common adverse event in the study was internal fixation irritation. Hallux valgus surgery is not without risk and these findings could be useful in the informed consent process. When combined the rotation scarf and Akin osteotomies are an effective treatment for hallux valgus that achieves good long-term correction with a low incidence of recurrence, footwear restriction or metatarsalgia. The nature of the osteotomies allows early return to normal shoes and activity without the need for postoperative immobilisation in a plaster cast.

Total contact casting is regarded as the gold standard treatment for plantar foot ulcers. Load transfer from the plantar surface of the foot to the walls of the total contact cast has previously been assessed indirectly. The aim of this proof of concept study was to determine the feasibility of a new method to directly measure the load between the cast wall and the lower leg interface using capacitance sensors. Plantar load was measured with pedar® sensor insoles and cast wall load with pliance® sensor strips as participants (n=2) walked along a 9 m walkway at 0.4±0.04 m/sec. The relative force (%) on the cast wall was calculated by dividing the mean cast wall force (N) per step by the mean plantar force (N) per step in the shoe-cast condition. The combined average measured load per step upon the walls of the TCC equated to 23-34% of the average plantar load on the opposite foot. The highest areas of load on the lower leg were located at the posterior margin of the lateral malleolus and at the anterior ankle/extensor retinaculum. These direct measurements of cast wall load are similar to previous indirect assessment of load transfer (30-36%) to the cast walls. This new methodology may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of load transfer from the plantar surface of the foot to the cast walls of the total contact cast.

This study aimed to establish mortality predictive parameters with a higher contribution to mortality by comparing the demographic data, comorbid factors, and haematological values of patients who underwent below-knee and above-knee amputation and had died during the follow-up period. Between March 2014 and January 2022, 122 patients in a single centre who developed foot gangrene due to chronic diabetes and underwent below-knee or above-knee amputation were evaluated retrospectively. Patients who died of natural causes during the post-operative period were included in the study. Those who were amputated below the knee were assigned to Group 1, and those who were amputated above the knee were assigned to Group 2. The patients’ age, gender, side of amputation, comorbid diseases, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), death time, and haematological values at the time of first admission were compared between the two groups and statistical analyses were performed. Group 1 (n = 50) and Group 2 (n = 37) had similar distributions in terms of age, gender, side of operation, number of comorbidities, and CCI (p > 0.05). Group 2’s mean ASA score and c-reactive protein (CRP) levels were statistically higher than those of Group 1 (p < 0.05). Death time, albumin value, and HbA1c levels were statistically lower in Group 2 than in Group 1 (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the groups in haemogram, white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes, neutrophils, creatinine, and Na values at the time of first admission (p > 0.05). A high ASA score, low albumin value, and high CRP value were significant predictors of high mortality. Creatinine levels and HbA1c values were quite ineffective in predicting mortality. Level 3, retrospective comparative study.

Patellofemoral pain is highly prevalent across the lifespan, and a significant proportion of people report unfavourable outcomes years after diagnosis. Previous research has implicated patellofemoral joint loading during gait in patellofemoral pain and its sequelae, patellofemoral osteoarthritis. Biomechanical foot-based interventions (e.g., footwear, insoles, orthotics, taping or bracing) can alter patellofemoral joint loads by reducing motions at the foot that increase compression between the patella and underlying femur via coupling mechanisms, making them a promising treatment option. This systematic review will summarise the evidence about the effect of biomechanical foot-based interventions on patellofemoral joint loads during gait in adults with and without patellofemoral pain and osteoarthritis. MEDLINE (Ovid), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature CINAHL, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), SPORTdiscus (EBSCO) and Embase (Ovid) will be searched. Our search strategy will include terms related to ‘patellofemoral joint’, ‘loads’ and ‘biomechanical foot-based interventions’. We will include studies published in the English language that assess the effect of biomechanical foot-based interventions on patellofemoral joint loads, quantified by patellofemoral joint pressure, patellofemoral joint reaction force and/or knee flexion moment. Two reviewers will independently screen titles and abstracts, complete full-text reviews, and extract data from included studies. Two reviewers will assess study quality using the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB 2) tool or the Cochrane Risk Of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies – of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. We will provide a synthesis of the included studies’ characteristics and results. If three or more studies are sufficiently similar in population and intervention, we will pool the data to conduct a meta-analysis and report findings as standardised mean differences with 95% confidence intervals. If a meta-analysis cannot be performed, we will conduct a narrative synthesis of the results and produce forest plots for individual studies. This protocol outlines the methods of a systematic review that will determine the effect of biomechanical foot-based interventions on patellofemoral joint loads. Our findings will inform clinical practice by identifying biomechanical foot-based interventions that reduce or increase patellofemoral joint loads, which may aid the treatment of adults with patellofemoral pain and osteoarthritis. Registered with PROSPERO on the 4th of May 2022 (CRD42022315207).