earticle

영어

This study aimed to investigate the effect of shoes heel height on the EMG activities of lower limb muscles. Twenty young healthy females volunteered to participate in this study. To measure the EMG activities of the quadricep, hamstring, medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles, the subjects were asked to stand wearing harness, assuring the safety during unexpected body perturbation. The perturbation was made by using a wing pendulum ball, which produces anterior displacement of the subjects’ head, neck, and trunk as it gently pushed the upper back(T10 level) without provoking a stepping response. Shoe heel height was established under 3 conditions: barefoot, 4㎝, and 10㎝ heels. The EMG activities of the selected muscles was normalized to maximum voluntary isometric contraction(MVIC). One-way repeated ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni's correction was used to compare the EMG activities according to shoes heel height. The collected data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 12.0. During the ankle strategy, the EMG activity of the quadriceps, hamstring, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior muscles were significantly augmented with increasing heel height(p<.05). The findings indicate that high-heeled shoes may have disadvantages in maintaining the balance function because of the extra muscular efforts in the lower extremities. This study provides useful information of future studies how heel height affects muscle activity around the lower extremities.