The Effect of Increase in Pronation of Rearfoot on Physical Performance

Objective: Increased pronation in rearfoot can affect daily living activities such as doing sports, long standing and walking and physical fitness of people by disrupting biomechanics of foot. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between increased pronation in rearfoot and physical performance in young adults. Material and Methods: 64 healthy young adults aged 18 to 25 years were included in the study voluntarily. The demographic information of the subjects participating in the study was recorded and the rearfoot pronation was assessed by navicular drop test. The physical performances of the individuals were assessed by vertical jump test, side step test and shuttle running test. Spearman Correlation Analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between rearfoot pronation and physical performance. Statistical significance was accepted as p <0.05. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found between the navicular drop test and side step test and shuttle running test (p <0.05). As the severity of rearfoot pronation of individuals increased, side step and shuttle running test performances were worsened. There was no statistically significant relationship between the navicular drop test and vertical jump test (p？0.05). Conclusions: Increased rearfoot pronation negatively affects physical performance of individuals such as leap and running. Early prevention of increased pronation progression, which is common in young adults, and reduction of future musculoskeletal anomalies and decrease in physical performance is an important issue to be consider in preventive programs