The Effects of a Short Foot Exercise Device on Foot Posture, Pain, Balance, and Walking Speed for Individuals With Foot Pain

INTRODUCTION: Weak intrinsic foot muscles may lead to foot pain, altered foot posture, single-leg balance issues, and altered gait. Short foot exercises can strengthen intrinsic foot muscles, which can improve foot posture and single-leg balance. This study tested the efficacy of a training device designed to strengthen intrinsic foot muscles, the FootCore MAX, for decreasing pain, improving single-leg balance, improving foot posture, and increasing comfortable walking speed. METHODS: Thirteen participants with chronic foot pain (10 female; 25.4 ± 4.3 yrs; body mass index 26.7 ± 6.8) performed 6 weeks of at-home short foot exercise using the FootCore MAX training device. Pre- and post-training visits included questionnaires, single-leg balance testing, foot posture measures, and comfortable and fast walking speeds. Participants also rated their foot pain before and after each lab visit. RESULTS: Foot and Ankle Outcome Score pain subscore decreased 30% (37 ± 18 to 26 ± 15, p = 0.040) after 6 weeks of training. Foot and Ankle Disability Index scores decreased 25% (4 ± 4 to 4 ± 3, p = 0.032), indicating disability decreased. Foot and Ankle Ability Measure total scores improved by 14% (72 ± 15 to 82 ± 16 p = 0.015), indicating ability improvement. Visual analog pain rating scores showed a significant interaction between both the beginning and end of lab visits as well as pre- and post-training (p = 0.002), suggesting pain scores were influenced by the training, as pain scores significantly increased from the beginning to the end of the pre-training lab visit (12 ± 11 to 27 ± 14, p = 0.001), but not from beginning to end of the post-training lab visit (14 ± 13 to 16 ± 18, p = 0.314). Preferred gait speed significantly increased with training (1.06 ± 0.33 to 1.16 ± 0.20, p = 0.008). Neither fast walking speed, balance, or foot postural measurements changed from pre- to post-training (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Six weeks of short foot exercise training with the FootCore MAX can improve foot pain and increase comfortable gait speed.