Tag Archives: footwear

Professor recognised for services to podiatry profession

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A Staffordshire University Professor has received a top honour recognising his contribution to the advancements of the podiatry profession.

Professor Nachiappan Chockalingam, Director of the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies, received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Podiatry at an event in the House of Lords.

This fellowship is conferred upon individuals who have made a substantive and significant contribution to the advancement of the podiatric profession in clinical practice, education, service management or research.

With support from colleagues and collaborators within the profession, Professor Chockalingam has contributed to the development of musculoskeletal podiatry in the United Kingdom. He has supervised and trained numerous podiatrists through the University’s post-graduate provision.

His globally recognised research on foot and footwear biomechanics has helped in scientific understanding of the mechanics of the foot and has provided evidence for clinical practice.

Receiving the honour, Professor Chockalingam said: “Receiving this fellowship is not just my own achievement; it represents the hard work of all the people I have worked with, from the podiatry profession and all those students for their dedication and unwavering belief in the power of knowledge and the pursuit of excellence.

“Throughout my academic and professional journey at Staffordshire University, I have been fortunate to work with some brilliant podiatrists who engaged with me in critical debates on scientific aspects of their clinical skill set. Some of these conversations have led to the development of seminal publications to provide evidence for practice.

He added: “With this honour comes a duty to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, to address pressing societal challenges, and to inspire others to follow their academic passions.”

Earlier this year, Professor Chockalingham was named a fellow of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) at their 29th global meeting in Fukuoka, Japan.  This fellowship recognised his distinguished professional achievement in biomechanics,  support for young researchers and his work to promote inclusive research amongst Allied Health Professionals.

Staffordshire University Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Jones said: “We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Chockalingam on these latest honours which are so richly deserved. Nachi and his team are exponents of research excellence, he makes a huge contribution to our research culture here at Staffordshire University and we are enormously proud of all has achieved.

“Nachi brings together practicing clinicians and researchers with a view to improving patient care and the Staffordshire Conference in Clinical Biomechanics, now in its 21st year, is a big part of this. To have him recognised by his peers both here in the UK and internationally is the icing on the cake!”

A practical tool for Footwear Assessment in clincs

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Footwear advice created from footwear assessment is often anecdotal based on individual clinical experience and interest. There is often no structured way to evaluate the shoe worn to clinic and a generalised opinion on footwear choice is given.

Isolated assessment of footwear can provide a number of challenges for clinicians as wider footwear choices made by patients often do not reflect the shoes worn to appointments. This creates an unrealistic view for the clinician and inaccurate assumptions are often made when issuing advice.

To assist clinicians in assessing shoes we have developed a simple valid clinical footwear tool.

This tool has been designed to help clinicians quantify and measure a full range of footwear in one appointment. The footwear tool also provides a systematic view to assess the quality of fit and design of the shoe whilst channelling the clinician towards developing individual footwear advice for the patient. The tool is multifaceted and addresses a number of parameters associated with good fit and footwear choice.

Our validation of the tool shows that it is reliable to use in the clinic and can be applied to a number of styles of shoes. There is minimal equipment required to use the tool and completion of the assessment takes a short period of time.

For further details read our publication in JFAR:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13047-022-00519-6https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13047-022-00519-6

Please contact Dr Branthwaite or Professor Chockalingam to download the tool and the instructions for use

Our latest report provides standardised terminology for “therapeutic footwear” and will improve treatment for children with walking difficulties across the globe

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Our recent paper has established recognised terms, definitions, design characteristics and prescription criteria for off-the-shelf stability footwear for the first time.

Numerous terms have been used in the literature concerning clinical footwear interventions, including orthopaedic shoes, rehabilitative boots, modified shoes, supportive shoes and special shoes. There is also no standardised set of agreed outcome measures, both physical and psychosocial, to ascertain the effectiveness of this footwear.

A group of multinational professionals, from clinicians to those involved in the footwear industry, were recruited to take part in an online survey and to provide further insights through a series of open-ended questions.

“Therapeutic footwear” was the agreed term to represent children’s footwear interventions, with grouping and subgrouping of therapeutic footwear being dependent on their intended clinical outcomes: accommodative, corrective or functional. Design characteristics of off-the-shelf footwear were also grouped under three themes: stability, ergonomics and aesthetics.

This is believed to have many benefits including:

  • A common understanding of therapeutic footwear terminology to facilitate communication between clinicians, researchers and manufacturers.
  • Research-informed evidence for selection of appropriate off-the-shelf stability therapeutic footwear based on identified design characteristics.
  • Research-informed evidence for dispensing off-the-shelf stability therapeutic footwear to patients.
  • Standardised outcome measures for clinical assessment of the effectiveness of off-the-shelf stability therapeutic footwear interventions.

This study has achieved an expert consensus where none previously existed, which is important from both a manufacturing and clinical perspective. This is a huge step forward which we hope will lead to quicker, more personalised and more effective treatment for children with mobility issues.

Read the full paper published in BMJ Open – Defining and grouping children’s therapeutic footwear and criteria for their prescription: an international expert Delphi consensus study

Our latest paper provides a “step-change”!

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Our latest paper titled “A novel concept for low-cost non-electronic detection of overloading in the foot during activities of daily living” published in Royal Society Open Science has attracted a substanital attention from the industry and the clinicians. 

We have developed a novel concept to assess plantar laoding using 3D-printed, tuneable structures. This will help clinicians better understand the cause of foot ulcer development in patients with diabetes and lead to improved clincal outcomes.

Dr Chatzistergos, who led the study, said: “Our work has demonstrated a method to reliably detect overloading using a low-cost non-electronic technique. We have used a 3D-printed thin-wall structure that changes its properties when repeatedly loaded above or below a tuneable threshold. We believe that this is a step change from current practice.”

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/su-nra060921.php 

 

Postcode Lottery for NHS Orthotics Patients

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Our latest paper published in the BMJ Open highlight large variances in appointment times, waiting times, product entitlements for patients, and product lead times across various NHS trusts.

Although some geographical areas provide shorter waiting times and wider access to assistive devices, other areas have very long waiting time which means that the service, particularly to the paediatric population is meaningless.

The NHS trusts seemed to be able to answer questions that reflect quantity of service above quality of service. However, the combination of the number of Trusts who declined to reply to the FOI request and those who replied with limited information, hindered the ability of this study to collate the data received to provide a fuller national picture of the Orthotic Service provision.

Although this paper confirms that many of the issues reported in previous reports on Orthotic Service provision are still evident, the result show that there have been some improvements.

Read the full paper here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/10/e028186

Press Release: https://www.staffs.ac.uk/news/2019/10/postcode-lottery-for-nhs-orthotics-patients

Foot orthoses: Is the practitioner really important?

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One of our classic papers looked at the influence of practitioners and their skills in prescribing foot orthosis which are commonly prescribed and used in treating numerous lower limb problems.

Over the years several studies have reported positive effects and most clinical practitioners would confirm those findings. However, the exact mechanisms in which these orthoses work are not fully understood.

Our results suggest that the type and amount of effects observed is greatly influenced by the practitioners. From a scientific perspective, this indicates that great caution should be taken when studying and reporting the effects of custom foot orthoses (CFO). Had only one practitioner been used for studying CFO effects on kinematics, altogether different conclusions could have been drawn based on a single pair of CFO.

We recommend that future research on foot orthoses should focus on their long-term effect through longitudinal studies. Nevertheless, based on the reported data, it seems improbable that two different devices could yield the exact same results.

Most CFO will induce some systematic changes during gait. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that inter-practitioner variability is a major factor in orthotic intervention in treating a single patient and for a specific pathology. Based on the findings, it is strongly recommended to use caution when drawing general conclusions from research studies using CFO as it has been showed that the practitioner himself or herself will have a great influence on the treatment outcome. In addition, comparing studies on CFO where different practitioners were involved should be done with great caution as the conclusion could vastly differ.

Reference:

Chevalier, T.L. and Chockalingam, N., 2012. Effects of foot orthoses: how important is the practitioner?. Gait & posture, 35(3), pp.383-388.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966636211007600?via%3Dihub

 

 

Congratulations – Nicky !

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Nicola Eddison, one of the senior orthotists in the UK who recently completed her Ph.D at the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies writes on her experience:

I have worked in the NHS as the clinical lead for orthotics at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, for over a decade. My passion is paediatric orthotics, primarily the provision of ankle foot orthoses – footwear combinations (AFO-FCs) for children with neurological conditions.

I chose to undertake a Ph.D to increase my understanding of the biomechanics involved in AFO prescriptions and to investigate the effects of AFO optimisation (commonly termed AFO tuning) in an attempt to improve clinical outcomes and better inform the wider clinical community.

My research focused on the effect of biomechanically optimised AFO-FCs on the gait of children with cerebral palsy.

This research is first of its kind, to offer data in a case series analysis format on AFO-FC tuning, providing individual data rather than group means. For a practising clinician this is very important as each patient is different. I hope others will follow this model. In addition, my work is also the first piece of research which looked at the effects of AFO-FC tuning on energy expenditure and patient perception.

The project provides quantitative data to support the importance of biomechanically optimising AFO-FCs and as such, it contributes to the improvement of AFO prescriptions for children with cerebral palsy.

I thoroughly enjoyed conducting this research and have applied my research knowledge to practice. I intend to continue working with Professor Chockalingam and Dr Healy to help tackle issues relating to Orthotics and Assistive Technology.

As Nachi says, “research is addictive” and I want to continue to work on clinically relevant research questions which will have a substantial impact on people’s lives.

Publications from Nicky’s work:

Eddison N and Chockalingam N (2012): The effect of tuning ankle foot orthoses-footwear combination on the gait parameters of children with cerebral palsy. Prosthet Orthot Int published online 24. July 2012. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309364612450706

Eddison N and Chockalingam N (2014): Ankle foot orthosis- footwear combination tuning: An investigation into common clinical practice in the United Kingdom. Published online before print February 24, 2014 Prosthet Othot Int February 24, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309364613516486

Eddison N and Chockalingam N (2014): Response: Turning of rigid ankle-foot orthoses is essential. Prosthet Orthot Int, first published on April 1, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309364614525734

Eddison N, Mulholland M and Chockalingam N. Do research papers provide enough information on design and material used in Ankle Foot Orthoses (AFO) for children with cerebral palsy (CP)? : A systematic review. Journal of Children’s Orthopaedics, 2017; 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1302/1863-2548.11.160256

Eddison N, Healy A, Needham R and Chockalingam N. Shank – to – Vertical – Angle in AFOs: A comparison of static and dynamic assessment in a series of cases. Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics . JPO Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics · August 2017. doi: 10.1097/JPO.0000000000000141

Eddison N, Healy A, Needham R and Chockalingam N: Exploratory investigation into energy expenditure using tuned versus non-tuned ankle foot orthoses- footwear combinations in children with cerebral palsy. JPO Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics. 2018. In Press.