Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums, for communication between foot health professionals about podiatry and related topics.
You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members (PM), upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, earn CPD points and access many other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisments in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Testing the proficiency in distinguishing locations with elevated plantar pressure within professional groups of foot therapists. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2006 Dec 1;7(1):93 Guldemond NA, Leffers P, Nieman FH, Sanders AP, Schaper NC, Walenkamp GH
Quote:
BACKGROUND: Identification of locations with elevated plantar pressures is important in daily foot care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, metatarsalgia and diabetes. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the proficiency of podiatrists, pedorthists and orthotists in distinguishing locations with elevated plantar pressures in patients with metatarsalgia.
METHODS: Ten podiatrists, ten pedorthists and ten orthotists working in The Netherlands were asked to identify locations with excessively high plantar pressure in three patients with forefoot complaints. Therapists were encouraged to examine the patient in the way they usually do. Regions could be annotated by hatching an illustration of a plantar aspect. A pressure sensitive platform was used to quantify the dynamic bare foot plantar pressures and was considered as Gold Standard (GS). A pressure higher than 700 kPa was used as cut-off criterion for categorizing peak pressure into elevated or non-elevated pressure. This was done for both feet of the patient and six separate forefoot regions: big toe and metatarsal one to five. Data were analysed by a mixed-model ANOVA and Generalizability Theory.
RESULTS: The proportions elevated/non-elevated pressure regions, based on clinical ratings of the therapists, show important discrepancies with the criterion values obtained through quantitative plantar pressure measurement. In general, plantar pressures in the big toe region were underrated and those in the metatarsal regions were overrated. The estimated method agreement of clinical judgement of plantar pressures with the GS was below an acceptable level: i.e. all intraclass correlation coefficients equal to or smaller than .60. The estimated mutual agreements showed that there was virtually no mutual agreement between the professional groups studied.
CONCLUSIONS: Identification of elevated plantar pressure through clinical evaluation is difficult, insufficient and potentially harmful. The process of clinical plantar pressure screening has to be re-evaluated. The results of this study suggest that there is merit in quantitative plantar pressure measurement for clinical practice.
Re: How good are you at locating areas of high pressure?
One way of improving the recognition of high plantar pressure areas is by using PressureStat ( formerly known as PodoTrack) . This is a simple device which uses pressure sensitive inks to record pressures onto a sheet of paper after a patient has stood upon , or walked over the PressureStat. Anita Raspovic( Diabetic Foot 2005) also found clinicians to be inaccurate over their prediction of high plantar pressure areas.I have to declare an interest here in that I distribute PressureStat , however I do believe it to be a useful tool for recognition of high plantar pressure areas. It can be used by clinicians for pressure measurement and for education of the patient. Some practitioners are handing Pressurestats for patients' own use at home. There are a number of papers which have found Pressurestat to be a useful addition to the clinical armoury .
Re: How good are you at locating areas of high pressure?
Quote:
Originally Posted by G Hicks
One way of improving the recognition of high plantar pressure areas is by using PressureStat ( formerly known as PodoTrack) . This is a simple device which uses pressure sensitive inks to record pressures onto a sheet of paper after a patient has stood upon , or walked over the PressureStat. Anita Raspovic( Diabetic Foot 2005) also found clinicians to be inaccurate over their prediction of high plantar pressure areas.I have to declare an interest here in that I distribute PressureStat , however I do believe it to be a useful tool for recognition of high plantar pressure areas. It can be used by clinicians for pressure measurement and for education of the patient. Some practitioners are handing Pressurestats for patients' own use at home. There are a number of papers which have found Pressurestat to be a useful addition to the clinical armoury .
Dear collegae Hicks,
My name is Don Visbeen Ph.D. and I am the inventor of the Podotrack. In your paper you state that Pressure Stat ( formerly known as Podo track ). This statement is not correct. The Podotrack came in the market in 1994 in The Netherlands, and is still in the market. Pressure Stat is a exact copy of the Podotrack. All scientific papers are studies done with Podotrack and not with Pressure Stat.
Kind regards Don Visbeen
How good are you at locating areas of high pressure?
Linear Mode
