McWhorter, JW, Wallmann, H, Landers, M, LaPorta, L, Altenburger, P, Altenburger, B; College of Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA. jmcwhorter@ccmail.nevada.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of walking and running on foot volumetrics, and its relationship between measured foot size and preferred shoe size. SUBJECTS: This study was a single-group, repeated measures design. Twenty-eight (13 females, 15 males) physical therapy students participated in the testing. The mean age for all subjects was 27.1 ± 3.7 years. Only subjects who had no previous musculoskeletal injuries, health problems, or history of surgery to the lower extremities were included. METHODS: Following ten minutes of supine rest, a pre-exercise volumetric measurement of the right leg was obtained in the sitting position. Shoe size and foot length measurements were taken. Subjects were randomly assigned to either the walking or running condition, which included a seven-minute warm-up followed by ten minutes of exercise. The treadmill speed was set at a comfortable pace for each participant for each exercise condition. A two-minute exercise cool down period followed. Foot volume measurement was performed in the same manner as the pre-exercise measurement. Subjects participated in the first condition (walking or running) and returned the next week to participate in the second condition. ANALYSES AND RESULTS: Paired t-tests were used to compare differences in outcome variables. Significant increases in fluid volumes were noted within groups after walking (t = 3.023, p = .005) and running (t = 3.909, p = .001) and between groups in the post-walk and post-run values (t = 3.516, p = .002). A significant fair positive correlation was noted between changes in volume during running and the measured difference between foot size and shoe size (r = .39, p = .038). CONCLUSIONS: Treadmill running for 10 minutes may lead to significantly greater foot volume compared to treadmill walking for the same period. Results also demonstrate that the greater the measured difference between shoe size and foot size, the greater the foot volume after running. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Reprint Information
Requests for reprints should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. Students and other academic customers may receive permission to reprint copyrighted material from Physical Therapy by contacting the Copyright Clearance Center Inc, 222 Rosewood Dr, Danvers, MA 01923. Similar inquiries by all others should be made to the APTA Editorial Office, Attn: Physical Therapy.