NCT07140861

Effect of Core Stability Exercises in Individuals With Bilateral Flexible Flat Foot

Effect of Core Stability Exercises on Medial Longitudinal Arch Height and Balance in Individuals With Bilateral Flexible Flat Foot

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Cairo University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

There is a gap of literature about the role of core stability exercises on management of flexible flatfoot, as a result this study will take a deeper look on the effect of core stability exercises on navicular height, Arch height index, balance and disability function of ankle joint in individuals with bilateral flexible flat foot.

Detailed description

It was proved that Individuals with flexible flat foot have reduced core stability. Thus, core stability must be assessed while treating individuals with flexible flat foot and interventions that address core stability must be included in the treatment of flexible flat foot . It was demonstrated that there was a poorer balance in individual with bilateral flexible flat foot. Therefore, it is recommended to add balance training exercises to traditional physical therapy program in cases of flatfoot patients . 40 Participants of both genders with bilateral flexible flatfoot. will be assigned randomly into 2 equal groups: Group A (control group): will receive conventional therapy. Group B (Experimental group): will receive core training protocol and conventional therapy. Subjects will receive 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks. Outcome measures: 1. Navicular height: will be evaluated by navicular drop test. 2. Medial longitudinal arch height: will be evaluated by Arch height index (AHI). 3. Balance: will be evaluated by Biodex Balance System. 4. Disability function of ankle joint: will be evaluated by Arabic version of foot function index scale.

Conditions

• Flat Feet

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Conventional	patients will receive conventional therapy that include 1. Short foot exercises 2. Towel-curl exercise 3. Heel raise exercise 4. Calf stretch
OTHER	Experimental	Core stability exercises: The training programs will last 6 weeks and comprise 3 training sessions per week. Each training session lasted 30 min, starting with a brief, standardized warm-up program mainly consisting of low-intensity core strength exercises to prepare the neuromuscular system for the training loads and ending with a cool-down program (i.e., dynamic stretching). During the main part of training, research group will conduct the "big 3" exercises as described by McGill (Mcgill, 2001). These include the curl-up, side bridge, and quadruped position. In other words, every single training session consisted of frontal, dorsal, and lateral core exercises. Training intensity will be progressed and individually increased over the 6-week training program by modulating lever lengths, movement velocity

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-09-01
• Primary completion: 2026-04-01
• Completion: 2026-05-01
• First posted: 2025-08-26
• Last updated: 2025-11-19

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Egypt