Orthopaedic Simulation of a Morton's Extension to Test the Effect on Plantar Pressures of Each Metatarsal Head in Patients without Deformity: A Pre-Post-Test Study

Abstract

Background: the area beneath the metatarsal heads is a common location of foot pain, which is often associated with high plantar pressures. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the application of a Morton's extension on the pressure in the metatarsal bones of the foot using a pressure platform.

Methods: twenty-five subjects without musculoskeletal pathology were selected for this study, and an experiment was conducted with them as the subjects, before and after application of a Morton's extension. The foot regions were divided into the forefoot (transversely subdivided into six areas corresponding to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth metatarsal heads, and the hallux), midfoot, and rearfoot, and then the maximum and average pressures exerted at each region were measured before and after placing a Morton's extension.

Main findings: we found a pressure reduction, with a p-value less than (p < 0.05), in the head of the second and third metatarsals in statics and dynamics.

Conclusions: