Can an insole measure torsion in two different types of prosthetic feet?

Sammanfattning:     Introduction: There have not been any prosthetic feet available that can match an intact foot in functionality. Little focus has been on research on prosthetic foot performance in frontal plane motions and while most have investigated sagittal plane motions. Background: Normal gait is an artform of falling, thus the intact anatomical foot needs to be capable of handling a wide-range of environments. A prosthesis is an external helping aid for amputees, therefore they lack the ability to adapt to different environments. Most of the researches on prosthetic feet have focused on the sagittal plane, which has limited understanding and literature towards frontal plane motions. In this study a relatively new insole measuring system was used, Vebitosolution. The Vebitosolution insole has five separate sensors. It’s made from a flexible, specially shaped material to allow the sensors to measure independently, and measures both bending and torsional moments. Aim: The aim of the study to investigate if the Vebitosolution system is capable of measure torsional moments in frontal plane during straight line walk in two different types of prosthetic feet. Method: The participants were two transtibial amputees of that used the same size and category foot. They walked in a straight line with two different prosthetic feet. Results: There was a statistical significant difference (P < 0,05) for all measurements except for one (P > 0,05). Discussion: The results give indications that the Vebitosolution system is capable in differentiating between two different types of prosthetic feet. There are also indications of both product and gait specific gait pattern, but further researches are needed.  This research is limited by its sample size and amount of measurements performed. Conclusion: The take-away from this research is that the Vebitosolution system might be capable of measuring differences in frontal plane moments in two different types of prosthetic feet.