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Research and clinical synergy in foot and lower extremity biomechanics

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the synergy between the research world of foot and lower extremity biomechanics and the clinical world of foot health specialists that has occurred in the past, is currently occurring and may occur in the future. For more than a century, clinicians in orthopedics, physiotherapy, especially in podiatry have been attempting to use biomechanical methods, including shoe inserts, to solve functional foot and lower limb problems. In the 1960s and 1970s, Merton Root and his podiatric colleagues were pivotal in providing foot health practioners, and podiatrists in particular, with a coherent basis for the evaluation and biomechanical treatment of foot and lower extremity pathologies. As the podiatric community became more involved in biomechanics, researchers from the international biomechanics community began to take more interest in the clinical outcome of their studies. The sharing of clinical information and research between these two very different groups gave rise to new theories, supplementing and partially replacing the old Root paradigm. As a result of this synergy between the clinical and research world, foot and lower extremity biomechanics knowledge has greatly increased, adding new insights into the complex mechanics of the lower extremities. It is hoped that this mutual respect between the clinical and research communities continues to grow so that their synergistic research cooperation will ultimately create better therapeutic results for the treatment of the multitude of mechanically related foot and lower extremity pathologies that are so prevalent in today's society.