ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a soft semi-custom foot orthotic on leg muscles activity during stance and swing phases of walking in three different conditions namely, bare foot, with shoes only, and wearing shoes with soft insoles in individuals with supinated feet. Ten subjects with bilateral idiopathic pescavus deformity were entered into the study. Foot types were defined by FPI method. Surface electromyographic signals from the tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis and soleus were recorded using EMG system at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz according to the SENIAM protocol. Our findings showed a little change in muscle activation during walking, but no significant difference was detected in the muscles in the three conditions. Although use of orthotics resulted in no significant difference in the parameters in this study, different individuals showed different responses and the results of this study can be taken into consideration for designing orthotics