Immediate effects of knee varus instability-reducing shoes on young healthy adults with and without varus deformed knee

: The purpose of this study was to examine the immediate effect of knee varus-reducing shoes on the gait of young healthy adults in the presence or absence of knee varus deformity. The gait parameters of 37 university students were measured and com-pared under two different conditions, one while walking wearing knee varus-reducing shoes and the other while walking barefoot. Furthermore, the knee-to-knee distance was measured for all the participants, who were then divided into two groups as follows: those with a knee-to-knee distance of (cid:2) 30 mm (the knee varus group) and those with a knee-to-knee distance of < 30 mm (the non-varus group). The results showed that in comparison to walking barefoot, the stride and step lengths were significantly extended (p < 0.01) and the walking speed was significantly increased (p < 0.01) while walking wearing knee varus -reducing shoes. In addition, the effects of wearing shoes on the gait parameters were not affected by the presence or absence of knee varus. In conclusion, knee varus-reducing shoes improved the walking functions in healthy young adults, regardless of whether they had a knee varus deformity or not.