Foot bone kinematics as measured in a cadaveric robotic gait simulator

The bony motion of the foot during the stance phase of gait is useful to further our understanding of joint function, disease etiology, injury prevention and surgical intervention. In this study, we used a 10-segment in vitro foot model with anatomical coordinate systems and a robotic gait simulator (RGS) to measure the kinematics of the tibia, talus, calcaneus, cuboid, navicular, medial cuneiform, first metatarsal, hallux, third metatarsal, and fifth metatarsal from six cadaveric feet. The RGS accurately reproduced in vivo vertical ground reaction force (5.9% body weight RMS error) and tibia to ground kinematics. The kinematic data from the foot model generally agree with invasive in vivo descriptions of bony motion and provides the most realistic description of bony motion currently available for an in vitro model. These data help to clarify the function of several joints that are difficult to study in vivo; for example, the combined range of motion of the talonavicular, naviculocuneiform, metatarsocuneiform joints provided more sagittal plane mobility (27.4°) than the talotibial joint alone (23.2°). Additionally, the anatomical coordinate systems made it easier to meaningfully determine bone-to-bone motion, describing uniplanar motion as rotation about a single axis rather than about three. The data provided in this study allow for many kinematic interpretations to be made about dynamic foot bone motion, and the methodology presents a means to explore many invasive foot biomechanics questions under near-physiologic conditions.