Ankle-Foot Musculoskeletal Pathologies and Age-Related Arthro-Kinematic Changes: a Case-Control Study

The aging process profoundly influences the health of foot and ankle joints, impairing stride and range of motion and resulting in several musculoskeletal disorders. Despite extensive research on ankle arthrokinematics in Western and East Asian populations, India has yet to witness any such studies. We conducted a two-phased research study to evaluate the arthrokinematics of the ankle joint-foot complex. The first phase investigated how different types of physical activity were affecting the biomechanics of the ankle joint-foot complex in both healthy people and those with painful conditions, and the results have already been published.

This article shares the results of phase 2 of the project, which looks at how age and gender affect the size and movement of the ankle-foot complex in healthy people and those with pain.

This observational cross-sectional study comprised 158 patients randomly selected from those presenting at the orthopaedic outpatient department. We obtained ethical clearance and finalized the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) registration for the study before commencement. The study assessed the impact of age and gender on the anthropometric and biomechanical parameters of the ankle joint-foot complex in patients experiencing foot and ankle joint pain (cases) and in pain-free individuals (controls).

The middle age group (25-64 years) was identified as the most susceptible demographic for ankle joint-foot complex diseases, accounting for 146 out of all 158 cases (92.4%). The average dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion and eversion in both unaffected and diseased feet diminished with advancing age. Female patients had a greater prevalence of ankle and foot diseases compared to male subjects.

As people get older, the range of motion of the ankle and foot decreases significantly because of several physical reasons such as weaker muscles, stiffer joints and less flexible connective tissues.