Purpose: This study examined differences in ankle motion and plantar pressure between habitually barefoot male (HBM) and habitually shod male (HSM) during vertical jump.
Methods: Eighteen habitually barefoot males and twenty habitually shod males volunteered to join the test. Distance between hallux and second toe was measured with Easy-Foot-Scan. Plantar pressure and ankle kinematics were measured with EMED force platform and Vicon motion analysis system respectively. T test was taken to analyse the significant differences using Stata 12.0 software.
Results: The distance between hallux and other toes in HBM was greater than it in HSM. HBM showed larger plantar loading under hallux and medial forefoot, while HSM showed lager plantar loading under medial and central forefoot. HBM had smaller ankle plantarflexion, eversion and external rotation than HSM.
Conclusion: Findings of this study provide basic information for further studies on different hallux/toe function in motion control between habitually shod and barefoot populations.
Keywords: Foot morphology; Plantar pressure; Toes; Vertical jump.