Sports Medicine and Fitness

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the literature pertaining to the effect of shoes on lower limb venous status in asymptomatic populations before, during or after exercise. The current systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement guidelines. This systematic search was undertaken from the inspection of PubMed-NCBI, EBSCO Host, Cochrane Library and Science Direct databases (March 2019) with two concepts « Shoes » and « Venous parameters ». 366 articles whose 60 duplications were identified, 306 articles were analyzed, and 13 articles after screening and eligibility were included. The methodological rigor of the studies included in the current systematic review has been evaluated with the modified Downs and Black’s Quality Index tool. These included 9 studies investigating the effect of shoes on blood flow parameters, 2 on venous pressures and 2 on lower limbs circumferences before, during or after exercise. Some evidence exists that unstable shoes or similar technology, sandals, sport or soft shoes, customized foot orthoses appears to elicit improvement in venous variables to walking high-heels shoes, firm shoes, ankle joint immobilization or barefoot. These venous changes are probably in linked with the efficiency of muscle pumps of lower limbs who seems be dependent on the features of shoes associated with several changes in kinetics, kinematics and muscle activity variables in lower limbs during gait.