RESEARCH Association between toe f and spatiotemporal gait p

Sa J N E R JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERINGAND REHABILITATIONMisu et al. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2014, 11:143http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/11/1/143ive gait parameters remains unclear, although the role of654-0142, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground During walking, the foot is the only source of direct contact with the ground. The foot provides mechanical support for the body and sensory information regarding body position, which contributes to maintaining stability and providing forward propulsion. The toe flexor muscles perform a crucial function to control foot movement and assist with the propulsive force when walking. This is achieved by the contraction of the muscles at the late stance phase in the gait cycle [1,2]. By determining con-ditions for equilibrium from ground force distribution and anthropometrical foot data, it was estimated that the muscles of the flexor hallucis longus, brevis, flexor digitorum longus and brevis exert forces of approximately 52%, 36%, 9 % and 13 % of body weight during propulsion, respectively [3]. The association between toe flexor strength and object