International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article Contribution of Plantar Fascia and Intrinsic Foot Muscles in a Single-Leg Drop Landing and Repetitive Rebound Jumps: An Ultrasound-Based Study Masanori Morikawa 1 , Noriaki Maeda 1 , Makoto Komiya 1 , Arisu Hirota 1, Rami Mizuta 1, Toshiki Kobayashi 2, Kazuki Kaneda 1, Yuichi Nishikawa 3 and Yukio Urabe 1,* 1 Division of Sport Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan;
[email protected] (M.M.);
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[email protected] (M.K.);
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[email protected] (K.K.) 2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China;
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[email protected] Abstract: The plantar fascia and intrinsic foot muscles (IFM) modulate foot stiffness. However, it is Citation: Morikawa, M.; Maeda, N.; unclear whether the corresponding ultrasonography findings reflect it. This study aimed to examine Komiya, M.; Hirota, A.; Mizuta, R.; the effect of the plantar fascia and IFM morphologies on force attenuation during landing and Kobayashi, T.; Kaneda, K.; Nishikawa, reactivity when jumping in healthy adults (n = 21; age, 21–27 years). Thickness, cross-sectional area Y.; Urabe, Y.