ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Difference in plantar pressure between the preferred and non-preferred feet in four soccer-related movements

Pui-lam Wong¹, Karim Chamari², Anis Chaouachi², De Wei Mao³, Ulrik Wisløff⁴ and Youlian Hong¹

¹ Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
² Unité de Recherche - Evaluation, Sport, Santé, National Centre of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), EI Menzah, Tunisia
³ Shandong Institute of Physical Education and Sports, Jinan, Shandong, China
⁴ Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
P Wong
Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 852 Hong Kong; delwong{at}alumni.cuhk.net

Objective and participants: The present study measured the difference in plantar pressure between the preferred and non-preferred foot in four soccer-related movements in 15 male university soccer players (mean (SD) age 20.9 (1.3) years, mean (SD) height 173 (4) cm and mean (SD) weight 61.7 (3.6) kg).

Design: To record plantar pressure distribution, players randomly wore three types of soccer shoes (classical 6-stud and 12-stud, and specially designed 12-stud) embedded with an insole pressure recorder device with 99 sensors, divided into 10 areas for analysis. Plantar pressure was recorded in five successful trials in each of the four soccer-related movements: running (at 3.3 m/s), sideward cutting, 45° cutting and landing from a vertical jump.

Results: Plantar pressures of the preferred and non-preferred foot were different in 115 of 120 comparisons. The overall plantar pressure of the preferred foot was higher than that of the non-preferred foot. Specifically, in each of the four movements, higher pressure was found in the preferred foot during the take-off phase, whereas this was found in the non-preferred foot during the landing phase. This would suggest a tendency of the preferred foot for higher motion force and of the non-preferred foot for a greater role in body stabilisation.

Conclusions: The data indicate that the preferred and non-preferred foot should be treated independently with regard to strength/power training to avoid unnecessary injuries. Different shoes/insoles and different muscular strengthening programmes are thus suggested for each of the soccer player’s feet.

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