ADOLESCENT YOUNG FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND THEIR SOLE ARCH INDICES

Objective: The aim of this study is to find out the difference between sole arch indices of adolescent football players involved in regular training and competitions and age matched non-athletic sport group. Methods: This study was carried out in the sports center of Dubai -Emirates Arabs Unites, between February and May 2008, in juniors (14-16 years) categories, 51 male football players and 54 age school matched controls with the same ages were included in the study. Body mass index and podoscopic sole images of subjects were recorded, and the arc index was calculated for each group. Results: The sole arch index has a difference between football players and controls. The right foot arch index of the control group was 58.24 +/-22.16 and 56.38 +/-13.15 in soccer players (p= 0.512). The left foot arch index was 55.22 +/-21.09 in control group and 54.07 +/-13.11 in players (p= 0.881). There was a significant positive correlation between sole arch index and training age in football players (r= -0.350 for right sole arch index p < 0.05, r= -0.326 for left sole arch index, p< 0.05). Conclusion: these results have shown that soccer sport cause a specific adaptation of sole arch indices of the right and the left leg of adolescent young soccer players. It is possible that depending of the number of sport age of the player the sole arch indices takes more and more adaptation.