Foot shape analysis of professional American Football players

NewsBot · May 28, 2020

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Foot shape analysis of professional American Football players
Gwansik Park & Richard Kent
Footwear Science: 24 May 2020

The goal of this paper is to quantify the shape of National Football League (NFL) players’ feet and to identify foot shape characteristics that facilitate the development and refinement of position-specific footwear for NFL players. Statistical shape analysis was performed on three-dimensional (3 D) scans of 290 NFL players’ feet obtained from 4 NFL teams during preseason training camps to identify the principal components that explain characteristics of the shape variability. Eight foot shape measurements were then defined to reflect the main principal components and were quantified. The foot volume, the arch shape in conjunction with the foot length, and the foot curvature explained more than 80% of the foot shape variation. The average foot length was 293 ± 13.7 mm and width was 110.6 ± 6.8 mm. Significant differences were observed between position groupings, primarily with regard to size. The prevalence of flat feet (defined as 0 arch depth) was greater in linemen and hybrid position groups than in the skill group. This information can facilitate improvements in the lasts used to create shoes for elite-level players and can also help inform footwear selection.
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NewsBot · Jul 8, 2021

FOOT ALIGNMENT IN SYMPTOMATIC NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (NFL) ATHLETES: A WEIGHTBEARING CT ANALYSIS
Source

Objective:
Our aim was to describe the foot alignment in National Football League (NFL) players with different symptomatic foot and ankle pathologies using weightbearing cone-beam computed tomography (WBCBCT), comparing them to normally aligned feet as control group.

Methods:
41 feet (36 active NFL players) were assessed using WBCBCT and compared to 20 normally aligned controls from a normal population. Measurements included: Foot and Ankle Offset (FAO); Calcaneal Offset (CO); Hindfoot Alignment Angle (HAA); angle between inferior and superior facets of the talus (Inftal-Suptal); angle between inferior facet of the talus and the horizontal/floor (Inftal-Hor); Forefoot Arch Angle (FAA); navicular- and medial cuneiform-to-floor distance.

Results:
NFL athletes showed a neutrally aligned hindfoot when compared to controls (FAO: 1% vs 0.5%; CO: 2.3 mm vs 0.8 mm; HAA: 2.9° vs 0.8° in two groups, with all p > 0.05) and a normal morphology of the subtalar joint (no difference in Inftal-Suptal and Inftal-Hor angles). Conversely, in athletes we found a decreased medial longitudinal arch (FAA: 15° vs 18.3°, p = 0.03) with smaller navicular (38.2 mm vs 42.2 mm, p = 0.03) and medial cuneiform (27 mm vs 31.3 mm, p = 0.01) mean distances to the floor when compared to controls.

Conclusion:
In our series, NFL players presented a lower medial longitudinal arch than controls but a neutrally aligned hindfoot. WBCBCT may help shed light on anatomical risk factors for injuries in professional players
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