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At Estudio de la Pisada in Valencia, it’s all about feet: the podiatrists at this clinic analyse patients’ symptoms, develop treatments and advise athletes on performance diagnostics with the help of state-of-the-art technologies – including a piezoelectric force plate from Kistler to record moments and ground reaction forces.
We’re on our feet throughout our lifetimes – but we rarely pay any particular attention to them. At Estudio de la Pisada in Valencia (Spain), however, everything revolves around feet: for over 30 years, this clinic has focused intensively on podiatry and orthopaedic foot care. The team is headed by two specialists: José Manuel Bru Lázaro, an expert in motion analysis and clinical biomechanics, and José Manuel Bru Juanes, a podiatrist and foot surgeon. They treat patients suffering from a wide variety of disorders such as metatarsalgia (midfoot pain), fallen arches, splayfoot and plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the sole). The clinic also analyses pathologies that originate from parts of the body other than the feet, including Achilles tendinitis, medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) and other overuse reactions such as dysfunctions of the tensor fasciae latae muscle (TFL), which often occur in athletes
The motion analysis laboratory at Estudio de la Pisada in Valencia: in the centre is the running track with the integrated 3D force plate from Kistler (under the pictogram).
The two experts make use of numerous advanced technologies as well as various diagnostic and data acquisition systems to track down the causes of these disorders and develop effective ways to treat them – mostly involving physiotherapy combined with inserts, or by performing surgery in more serious cases. Complete individual inserts and orthotic devices are also produced at Estudio de la Pisada with the help of cutting-edge laser technologies.
Accurate data acquisition makes diagnostics easier
A 3D force plate from Kistler has proven particularly effective for analyses of complex movement sequences – especially those that go beyond disorders of the feet as such. “We set high standards for our work, and we like to collect as much information as possible for a diagnosis. That’s why we opted for one of the systems from Kistler, which are regarded as the gold standard on the market,” Bru Lázaro notes. The force plate can be used to perform numerous tests and evaluations in order to collect patients’ kinetic and kinematic data. “In most cases, we use the force plate together with an optical acquisition system – and that generates some useful synergies. With this combination, for instance, we can calculate the resultant moments as well as the strength and direction of the forces that the muscle groups must apply so as to balance out certain moments,” Bru Lázaro continues.
The piezoelectric technology incorporated into the force plates allows very precise ac