Visualization and quantification of 3d foot bone kinematics between human and african great apes using a biplanar x-ray fluoroscopy

To investigate how the foot mobility differs between human and African great apes, we compared three-dimensional bone kinematics of cadaver feet under an axial loading using a biplanar X-ray fluoroscopy system. For the visualization and quantification of detailed foot bony movement, a model-based registration method was employed. During axial loading, the calcaneus was everted and the talus and tibia were internally rotated in the human foot, but such coupling motion was not observed in the feet of African great apes. Our comparative fluoroscopic analysis could be useful for clarifying morphological adaptation of the human foot to bipedal locomotion.