Does short foot exercise alter the stiffness of medial soft tissue in the plantar foot?

Clinically, short foot exercise (SFE) is provided to raise the medial longitudinal arch. However, there is no evidence whether this intervention could change the stiffness of medial plantar soft tissue during SFE. The findings in this study demonstrated that Novel Foot Plantar Dynamometer (NFPD), which have been developed in our laboratory, had confirmed to measure the stiffness of medial plantar tissue between the rest and during SFE. The stiffness of the medial plantar soft tissue during SFE was significantly higher than that of during rest. The results implied that the stiffness of the longitudinal arch may be increased by the significant increase in active IFMs tension during the SFE.