Minimalist Footwear in the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Lower Limb Impairments Across the Life Course: A Scoping Review.

Background: Minimalist footwear has emerged as an alternative to traditional footwear styles and advocated for the management of several foot and lower limb pathologies.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to map the clinical potential of minimalist footwear (concept) in the treatment and/or rehabilitation of lower limb impairments (context) across the life course (population).

Data sources: Systematic searches were undertaken across MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from 2000 to 2024.

Study selection or eligibility criteria: Studies evaluating minimalist footwear as an intervention or adjunct to an intervention in clinical populations, or where a clinical need has been defined, across all age groups, were included. Eligible studies were primary research published in English from the year 2000 onwards.

Data synthesis: A narrative analysis was undertaken and our findings were reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines.

Results: Sixteen studies were identified in clinical populations ranging from adolescents with patello-femoral pain (14.3; SD: 1.7 years) to older adults with balance ability (73.4; SD: 3.9 years); studies focussing on knee pathology were the most common (n = 9). The influence of minimalist footwear on outcome measures varied across the studies and reported mechanisms of action included somatosensory, biomechanical and neuromuscular factors.

Conclusion and implications: Our review has mapped the clinical populations where minimalist footwear has been tested and most focus on knee pathology, specifically knee osteoarthritis. Our review has identified the biomechanical, functional, and clinical variables reported in studies and future work testing the clinical benefits of minimalist footwear interventions is recommended.