Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
1st International Congress on Physiotechnotherapy, Sarajevo, Bosna-Hersek, 9 - 13 Mayıs 2018
Abstract:
Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a limp, a shuffle or other walking
abnormalities which are appeared parallel with COPD severity. One of the possible explanation of these
reported disorders during walking could be related with poor peripheral muscle strength which is commonly
seen in this population. It is not only led to disturb biomechanical aspects of normal walking, it may also alter
plantar pressure distribution which is essential for proper co-contraction mechanisms of lower extremity
muscles (1-3). However, the literature is lacking in this field and therefore we aimed to investigate whether
severity of COPD was associated with altered plantar pressure distributions during walking.
Methods: 18 individuals diagnosed with COPD (51-78 years old, mean age: 62.3±7.6) were recruited to the
study. Severity of COPD classified with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) according
to the value of expired volume in 1s (Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 s or FEV1). Stage 1 corresponds to
FEV1≥80% of predicted; stage 2 50%≤FEV1<80% of predicted; stage 3 30% ≤FEV1 < 50% of predicted; stage
4 FEV1< 30% of predicted (4). Measurement of FEV1 performed using with spirometer according to ATS/ERS
criteria. Plantar pressure parameters for both feet were assessed by using EMED pedobarography device
(Novel, Munich, Germany). The subjects were asked to walk barefoot 5 times for each foot. Data was analysed
by dividing into 3 zone; hindfoot, midfoot and forefoot. Maximum force (normalized to BW) and peak pressure
were calculated. Spearman correlation test was performed for statistical analysis.
Results: 2 patients were in stage 2 according to GOLD, 8 patients in stage 3 and 8 patients in stage 4. There
was a good correlation between the FEV1 and maximum total foot force, maximum hindfoot force (rho: 0.531,
p=0.023; rho: -0.480, p=0.44, respectively). However, there was no correlation between the FEV1 and other
area force values, and peak pressure of foot.
Conclusions: Our results showed that increase in severity of COPD cause to increase in maximum total force
foot decrease in maximum hindfoot force. It may be related with walking style of patients such as limb or
shuffle caused by severity of COPD. Next studies should be designed with more participant to determine
whether there was a relationship between COPD stages