ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Chirurgia Del Piede 2000 March;24(1):1

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Metatarsalgia: baropodometric valuation

Villani C., Mantegna N., Persiani P., Ruo P.

Background. Electronic baropodometry is currently the most suitable method for the treatment of metatarsalgia owing to its precise quantitative and qualitative evaluation of both static and dynamic weight bearing during the clinical and pre-clinical phases, leading to positive repercussion in a clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic sense. The aim of this study was to verify the reliability, sensitivity, prognosis and specificity of baropodometric examination in metarsalgia.
Methods. The Authors studied 128 patients with metatarsalgia attending the outpatients clinic at the first Division of the Orthopedic Clinic, ''La Sapienza'' University, Rome. The patients included 57 males and 71 females; the mean age for males was 55 years, and 58 for females. Based on the assumption that whatever the cause of overloading, the final result is metatarsalgia, we evaluated changes in foot support, consequent pain and the gait strategy used by the patient.
Results. The use of the baropodometer as a coadjuvant instrument for clinical observations and X-ray, podoscopic and instrumental findings in general, allowed an electronic control of metatarsal pathologies in static and dynamic conditions enabling the exact measurement of load on the metatarsal heads.
Conclusions. In conclusion, patients with symptomatic overloading adopt a gait strategy dictated by pain.