Electrical Stimulation Versus Voluntary Exercise on the Navicular Height, Calcaneal Pitch Angle, and Cross-Sectional Area in Healthy Subjects: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.

The important function of the intrinsic foot muscles is the dynamic stabilization of the medial longitudinal arch (MLA). Several studies have reported that implementing short foot exercise (SFE) and electrical stimulation (ES) amid the intrinsic foot muscles may increase MLA height. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of ES versus SFE on navicular drop (ND), calcaneal pitch angle (CPA), and crosssectional area (CSA) of the abductor hallucis (AbdH) muscle. 20 healthy female subjects were randomly assigned to undergo ES (n=10) or SFE (n=10). SFE performed 30 repetitions whereas 20 min per day for ES, 3 days/week, for 4 weeks. ND, CPA, and the CSA of the AbdH muscle were assessed before and after intervention. The results showed that ES group significantly decreased in ND after training (p<0.05) without significant differences between groups. The CPA is a little change in both groups (SFE = 0.4° and ES = 2.4°; p>0.05). The CSA of the AbdH muscle in both groups was increased (ES =10.93 mm² and SFE=7.44 mm²; p<0.05) with no significant difference between ES and SFE. These results demonstrated that ES and SFE alone could improve intrinsic foot muscle size. Nevertheless, ES tended to increase MLA more than SFE alone. Hence, ES can be considered as an alternative treatment to increase MLA and intrinsic foot muscle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]