The Effect of Genu Varum Deformity on Posture Control During Walking and Running in Active Male

Background& Genu varum deformity is known as a factor disrupting gravity line and force pattern in lower limb that can cause disorder in posture control and the increase of injury while doing sports. This study investigated the effect of genu varum deformity on posture control index during walking and running.
Material and Thirty active men were categorized into two groups of genu varum (15) and normal (15) based on their knee posture. Posture control index (center of mass changes to center of pressure) in two directions of anterior – posterior and medial-lateral using force plate was recorded and analyzed. Data were analyzed utilizing MANOVA for between-group differences and paired samples t-test for within-group differences at a.05 level of significance. Cop-com in anterior-posterior direction for the experimental groups while walking (p=0.038) and running (p=0.01) in the dominant limb and while running in the non-dominant limb (p=0.002) yielded a significant value, but in medial-lateral direction, no significant difference was observed for the variables. In addition, regarding the dominant and non-dominant limb, a significant value was observed for none of the directions. The findings of this study indicated that mechanical departure resulting from genu varum deformity, though residing in frontal plate, can influence the sagittal plate too and cause the significant decrease of posture control in the sagittal plate. The findings imply that when designing balance schedules and exercising activities for those suffering from genu varum deformity, besides frontal plate in which deformity takes place, the sagittal plate be considered too.