【論文摘要】The Effect of Footwear, Intrinsic Foot Exercises, and Kinesio Taping on Adult Flatfoot: A Systematic Review

【論文摘要】足部護具、足部運動與肌內效貼紮對成人扁平足之改善效果－系統性回顧

黃玉雪貞(Hoang Ngoc Tuyet Trinh) ； 陳淑雅(Shuya Chen) ； 周立偉(Li-Wei Chou)

《物理治療》 45卷4期 (2020/12) Pp. 311-311

https://doi.org/10.6215/FJPT.202012.O20

摘要

Background and Purpose: Adult flatfoot is a chronic musculoskeletal deformity causing pain and injury to the lower limbs. Non-invasive approaches are usually used by practitioners to correct or prevent excessive foot pronation. Three widely used interventions are footwear, intrinsic foot exercises, and Kinesio taping. There were many debates about the effectiveness of these interventions on adult flatfoot. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to systematically investigate the effects of footwear, intrinsic foot exercises, and Kinesio taping for adult flatfoot. Methods: The databases including PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane were used to identify the articles through May 2020. The critical inclusion criteria were developed following the PICOS (patient, intervention, comparison, outcome, and setting) rule. The randomized control trial studies focused on adult flatfoot that evaluated the effect of footwear, intrinsic foot exercises or Kinesio taping on foot structure, and pain was included. Footwear in this study was the internal inserts (insoles) or the external inserts (orthoses), which redistributed the load and deformities correction. Results: There were a total of 775 articles in the first search. According to the PICOS rule, we then finalized 12 articles for three targeted interventions: footwear, intrinsic foot exercises, and Kinesio taping (5, 5, 2, respectively). Overall, the extracted articles showed significant effects of footwear and intrinsic foot exercises on improving foot structure and releasing foot pain. Additionally, the effects of footwear and intrinsic foot exercises were considered to be relatively long lasting (2-8 weeks after the interventions). Contrary, Kinesio taping showed no significant effect on the foot posture index at 24 hours after the intervention. However, the use of Kinesio tape to keep foot alignment has been obtained the attention of researchers just recently and needs to be explored further. Conclusion: In terms of preventing excessive foot pronation, both footwear and intrinsic foot exercises might have the effect on reducing foot pain and improving foot posture. Further network meta-analysis examining the effect of these non-invasive interventions could address the optimal treatment. Clinical Relevance: This systematic review provided reference information for practitioners to design better treatments for the adult flatfoot.