Unlocking the Foot: Biomechanics, Morphology, and the Path to Precision Foot Health

The human foot is highly complex, with wide variation in structure (shape and size) and function existing across healthy and clinical populations. Foundational foot biomechanics theories relied on mechanical analogies and theoretical models to (over)simplify the structure and function of our feet. While understandable due to technology limitations of the 19th and 20th, most of these previously untested ideas have been disproven or shown to provide inadequate representations of how our feet actually function. This presentation will provide an alternate data-informed lens that the complexity and variation within our feet provides functional versatility that is essential for how we move. Combining approaches from the fields of biomechanics and morphometrics, I will provide new insights into how foot structure and function interact to deliver our own individual movement patterns. I will present insights from individual foot bones and joints, through to our foot as an integrated structure. Finally, I will present some future facing perspectives on how these data are being applied within an emerging framework to deliver precision foot health.

Understanding 1st MTP joint dynamics to innovate clinical practice

This session will provide a detailed overview of 1st MTP joint function, and how footwear, foot orthoses and other devices might be applied to improve function in clinical populations

Biography

Luke Kelly is an Associate Professor of Allied Health Research and Director of the Australian Centre for Precision Health & Technology, at Griffith University. He is a trained podiatrist (QUT) with a PhD in Biomechanics and Motor Control (University of Queensland).

Luke’s research incorporates approaches from biomechanics, neurophysiology and morphometrics to understand how the interactions between structure and neural control influence foot function, and the influence of our feet have on whole body mechanics and energetics. His research program has broad applications across a range of areas, including health (e.g. chronic musculoskeletal conditions), athletic footwear innovation, high-performance sport, and technology development.

Luke’s research program has attracted more than $6 million in research funding since 2015, for projects funded by the Australian government and commercial partners.

Conference Organisers

ApodA staff: Phil McShane, Katrina Den Elzen, Pauline Taylor and Sara Virgo

Contact us

(61-3) 9416 3544
events@podiatry.org.au
89 Nicholson St, Brunswick East, VIC

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The APodA would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and gather across this Country. We would like to pay our respects to their Elders past and present, as well as emerging youth as the next generation of community leaders.