Plantar Stimulation, Whole-Body Vibration, and Baduanjin for Muscle Activation

NCT07811674 | Recruiting DMC

• 1 other identifier: NFEC-2026-561
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will examine how different short-term exercise and vibration conditions affect lower-limb muscle activity in young adults with flat feet and young adults with normal feet. Participants will complete several conditions, including whole-body vibration, whole-body vibration combined with plantar stimulation under different areas of the foot, and a Baduanjin heel-raise exercise. Surface electromyography sensors will be placed on the skin over selected lower-limb muscles to record muscle activity before and during each condition. Each participant will complete all study conditions in a balanced order. This study does not aim to treat flat feet or evaluate long-term clinical benefits. The purpose is to collect preliminary information on immediate muscle activation and foot discomfort, which may help design future studies on foot-related exercise, plantar stimulation, and rehabilitation training.

Conditions

Flat Feet; Lower-Limb Muscle Activation; Neuromuscular Response

Keywords

Whole-Body Vibration; Regional Plantar Stimulation; Baduanjin; Surface Electromyography; Foot type

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Root Mean Square Value

  Electrodes were placed per SENIAM standards (2000 Hz sampling, 20-450 Hz band-pass and 50 Hz band-stop filtering). Data were collected during a 30 s resting baseline and the 30-60 s stable phase of intervention. After offline full-wave rectification, RMS was calculated using a 200 ms sliding window (100 ms step). Mean RMS within each epoch was adopted as the representative value.

  Day 1: from the resting baseline immediately before each intervention condition through completion of that intervention condition.

Other Outcomes (1)

• Integrated Electromyography

  Day 1: from the resting baseline immediately before each intervention condition through completion of that intervention condition.

Study Arms (2)

Flatfoot Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will complete three types of study conditions. In the whole-body vibration (WBV) condition, they will stand barefoot at the center of the vibration platform with feet about 20 cm apart, knees flexed at 20°-25°, arms relaxed, head and neck neutral, eyes forward, and body weight evenly distributed. WBV will be delivered at 20 Hz and 2 mm for 60 seconds. For WBV plus regional plantar stimulation, the same posture and WBV parameters will be used. A plantar stimulation module will be placed on the platform, and participants will position the assigned plantar region on the module. Four regions will be stimulated separately: toe region, metatarsal head region, medial plantar/tibial-side region, and lateral plantar/fibular-side region. Each condition will last 60 seconds. For the Baduanjin condition, participants will perform the "Bei Hou Qi Dian Bai Bing Xiao" heel-raise movement under professional guidance, with 6 repetitions completed within 60 seconds.

Other: Whole-body Vibration Training,Whole-Body Vibration With Regional Plantar Stimulation,Baduanjin

Normal Foot Group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will complete three types of study conditions. In the whole-body vibration (WBV) condition, they will stand barefoot at the center of the vibration platform with feet about 20 cm apart, knees flexed at 20°-25°, arms relaxed, head and neck neutral, eyes forward, and body weight evenly distributed. WBV will be delivered at 20 Hz and 2 mm for 60 seconds. For WBV plus regional plantar stimulation, the same posture and WBV parameters will be used. A plantar stimulation module will be placed on the platform, and participants will position the assigned plantar region on the module. Four regions will be stimulated separately: toe region, metatarsal head region, medial plantar/tibial-side region, and lateral plantar/fibular-side region. Each condition will last 60 seconds. For the Baduanjin condition, participants will perform the "Bei Hou Qi Dian Bai Bing Xiao" heel-raise movement under professional guidance, with 6 repetitions completed within 60 seconds.

Other: Whole-body Vibration Training,Whole-Body Vibration With Regional Plantar Stimulation,Baduanjin

Interventions

Whole-body Vibration Training,Whole-Body Vibration With Regional Plantar Stimulation,Baduanjin OTHER

Participants will complete three types of intervention conditions. In the whole-body vibration condition, participants will stand barefoot on a vibration platform with feet about 20 cm apart and knees flexed at 20°-25°. Vibration will be delivered at 20 Hz and 2 mm for 60 seconds. In the whole-body vibration with regional plantar stimulation condition, the same vibration parameters and posture will be used, while a plantar stimulation module is placed on the platform. Four plantar regions will be stimulated separately: the toe region, metatarsal head region, medial plantar region, and lateral plantar region. In the Baduanjin condition, participants will perform a heel-raise movement derived from Baduanjin under professional guidance, completing six repetitions within 60 seconds.

Flatfoot Group; Normal Foot Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• College students aged 18 to 25, regardless of gender
• agree to participate in the study and voluntarily sign the informed consent form
• and are deemed suitable to participate in this study by the researchers.

You may not qualify if:

• Persons with severe cardiovascular diseases, motor dysfunction or cognitive disorders
• persons who have suffered severe trauma or been hospitalized recently and are unsuitable for exercise testing
• persons with congenital lower limb or spinal deformities affecting foot posture other than flatfoot
• persons with a medical history of muscular, neurological or skeletal system disorders affecting foot posture other than flatfoot
• persons deemed ineligible to participate in this study by the investigators

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China

RECRUITING

Related Publications (4)

• Ritzmann R, Gollhofer A, Kramer A. The influence of vibration type, frequency, body position and additional load on the neuromuscular activity during whole body vibration. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Jan;113(1):1-11. doi: 10.1007/s00421-012-2402-0. Epub 2012 Apr 27.

  PMID: 22538279 RESULT

• Segura A, Donly KJ, Stratmann RG. Enamel remineralization on teeth adjacent to Class II glass ionomer restorations. Am J Dent. 1997 Oct;10(5):247-50.

  PMID: 9522700 RESULT

• Kirmizi M, Sengul YS, Akcali O, Angin S. Effects of foot exercises and customized arch support insoles on foot posture, plantar force distribution, and balance in people with flexible flatfoot: A randomized controlled trial. Gait Posture. 2024 Sep;113:106-114. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2024.05.030. Epub 2024 Jun 2.

  PMID: 38865799 RESULT

• Salinas-Torres VM, Salinas-Torres RA, Carranza-Garcia LE, Herrera-Orozco J, Tristan-Rodriguez JL. Prevalence and Clinical Factors Associated With Pes Planus Among Children and Adults: A Population-Based Synthesis and Systematic Review. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2023 Sep-Oct;62(5):899-903. doi: 10.1053/j.jfas.2023.05.007. Epub 2023 Jun 5.

  PMID: 37286098 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Flatfoot

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Talipes; Foot Deformities, Acquired; Foot Deformities; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Foot Deformities, Congenital; Lower Extremity Deformities, Congenital; Limb Deformities, Congenital; Musculoskeletal Abnormalities; Congenital Abnormalities; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities

Study Officials

• chao chen, PhD

  Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

chao chen, PhD

CONTACT

+86-20-62787238; chenchao@smu.edu.cn

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: This is a self-controlled, repeated-measures crossover study. All participants will complete all study conditions, including whole-body vibration alone, whole-body vibration combined with regional plantar stimulation, and Baduanjin heel-raise exercise. The order of study conditions will be balanced using a Latin square design to reduce potential order effects. Participants will be classified as having flat feet or normal feet based on foot type assessment; this classification is used for stratified analysis and is not a randomized group assignment.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 2, 2026
• First Posted: September 10, 2026
• Study Start: September 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Last Updated: September 10, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CN (1)