Effect of biomechanical footwear on upper and lower leg muscle activity in comparison with knee brace and normal walking

To evaluate the activity of knee stabilizing muscles while using custom-made biomechanical footwear (BF) and to compare it when walking barefoot with a brace (Unloader®). Seventeen healthy working-aged (mean age: 29 years; standard deviation: 8 years) individuals participated. The was worn on right BF in both legs. Surface electromyography (sEMG) data recorded bilaterally from vastus medialis (VM), semitendinosus (ST), tibialis anterior (TA) lateral gastrocnemius (LG) during walking, repeated-measures ANOVA post-hoc t-test used determine differences between different modalities (barefoot, BF). Averaged sEMG significantly higher than or ST muscles, LG, left TA muscle. It lower compared LG Analysis ensemble-averaged profiles showed earlier activation other modalities. produced greater evaluated leg walking. Thus may have an exercise effect rehabilitation further studies about its effectiveness are warranted.