ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT07140861Updated Jul 14, 2026

Effect of Core Stability Exercises in Individuals With Bilateral Flexible Flat Foot

An interventional study of Conventional and Experimental in Flat Feet, sponsored by Cairo University. Completed at 2 sites in Egypt. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 40 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-14.

Sponsored by Cairo University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 40 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

There is a gap of literature about the role of core stability exercises on management of flexible flatfoot, as a result this study will take a deeper look on the effect of core stability exercises on navicular height, Arch height index, balance and disability function of ankle joint in individuals with bilateral flexible flat foot.

Read the detailed description

It was proved that Individuals with flexible flat foot have reduced core stability. Thus, core stability must be assessed while treating individuals with flexible flat foot and interventions that address core stability must be included in the treatment of flexible flat foot . It was demonstrated that there was a poorer balance in individual with bilateral flexible flat foot. Therefore, it is recommended to add balance training exercises to traditional physical therapy program in cases of flatfoot patients .

40 Participants of both genders with bilateral flexible flatfoot. will be assigned randomly into 2 equal groups: Group A (control group): will receive conventional therapy. Group B (Experimental group): will receive core training protocol and conventional therapy. Subjects will receive 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks.

Outcome measures:

  1. Navicular height: will be evaluated by navicular drop test.
  2. Medial longitudinal arch height: will be evaluated by Arch height index (AHI).
  3. Balance: will be evaluated by Biodex Balance System.
  4. Disability function of ankle joint: will be evaluated by Arabic version of foot function index scale.
02

Conditions studied

  • Flat Feet

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Keywords

  • core stability exercises
  • medial longitudinal arch height
  • balance
  • bilateral flexible flat foot
03

In context

Flatfoot

173 studies on the registry are indexed under Flatfoot; 44 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 40 is close to the median of 40 across 122 interventional studies indexed under Flatfoot.

Browse Flatfoot studies →

Lead sponsor

Cairo University is the lead sponsor of 4,941 studies on the registry; 1,458 are open to participants now.

Of its 37 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 5 (14%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. 40 Participants of both genders with bilateral flexible flatfoot.
  2. Their age ranges from 18 to 39 years.
  3. All Participants with a navicular drop (ND) greater than 10 mm.
  4. from 18.5-25 kg/m2

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Traumatic condition of the lower limbs.
  2. History of Fracture of the lower limbs.
  3. previous orthopedic disorders or neurologic deficit of the lower limbs.
  4. Previous surgery of the lower limbs.
  5. Any sensory problems.
  6. Leg length discrepancy.
  7. Neuromuscular disease like multiple scelerosis.
  8. Unilateral flexible flat foot.
  9. Rigid flat foot.
  10. Any lumbar spine problems
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
40 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Control group

    Control group will receive conventional treatment

    Other: Conventional

  • Experimental
    Study group

    Study group: will receive core training protocol and conventional therapy.

    Other: Conventional · Other: Experimental

Interventions

  • OtherConventional

    patients will receive conventional therapy that include 1. Short foot exercises 2. Towel-curl exercise 3. Heel raise exercise 4. Calf stretch

  • OtherExperimental

    Core stability exercises: The training programs will last 6 weeks and comprise 3 training sessions per week. Each training session lasted 30 min, starting with a brief, standardized warm-up program mainly consisting of low-intensity core strength exercises to prepare the neuromuscular system for the training loads and ending with a cool-down program (i.e., dynamic stretching). During the main part of training, research group will conduct the "big 3" exercises as described by McGill (Mcgill, 2001). These include the curl-up, side bridge, and quadruped position. In other words, every single training session consisted of frontal, dorsal, and lateral core exercises. Training intensity will be progressed and individually increased over the 6-week training program by modulating lever lengths, movement velocity

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Navicular height

    Time frame: at enrollment and at the end of 6 weeks of treatment

  2. Balance

    Dynamic balance will be assessed by Biodex system

    Time frame: at enrollment and at the end of 6 weeks of treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Medial longitudinal arch height

    Time frame: at enrollment and at the end of 6 weeks of treatment

  2. Function of ankle joint

    Function of ankle joint will be assessed by Arabic version of foot function index scale.

    Time frame: at enrollment and at the end of 6 weeks of treatment

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Physical therapy College - Cairo university
    Cairo, Egypt
  • Physical Therapy faculty, Cairo University
    Cairo, Egypt
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 14, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07140861
Lead sponsor
Cairo University
Responsible party
Doaa Rafat (Assistant professor of physical therapy, Cairo University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 26, 2025
Start date
Sep 1, 2025
Primary completion
Apr 1, 2026
Completion
May 1, 2026
Last update
Jul 14, 2026

Study contacts

Magda Gaid Professor of physical therapy - Cairo University
study director · Department of Basic sciences for physical therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy , Cairo university, Cairo, Egypt
Ahmed Abdou, Assistant lecturer
principal investigator · Department of Basic sciences for physical therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy , Cairo university, Cairo, Egypt

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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