Examination of floating toe gait using a force plate

Abstract

[Purpose]: To elucidate the gait characteristics of subjects with floating toes. [Subjects]: The subjects were 16 floating toe, 16 suspected floating toe, and 16 normal subjects (48 in total), selected from a group of 175 adults. [Methods]: Using a contact-type force plate, we measured the ground reaction force (GRF) and center of pressure (COP) sway in the stance phase, and compared them among the three groups of subjects to analyze their gait. [Results]: Shortening of the stance time, anteroposterior (AP) sway distance, AP sway distance at toe-off, and mediolateral sway distance at toe-off were found in the floating toe-group. [Conclusion]: We infer from the results that, the floating toe subjects did not move their center of gravity to the toes at toe-off, because they could not maintain a stable base of support in that position, and are therefore unable to perform a smooth toe-off.