Foot and ankle disorders are a very common diseases, represent a risk factor for falls in older people, and are associated with difficulty performing activities of daily living. With an increasing demand for cost-effective and high-quality clinical services, wearable technology can be strategic in extending our reach to patients with foot and ankle disorders. In recent years, wearable sensors have been increasingly utilized to assess the clinical outcomes of surgery, rehabilitation, and orthotic treatments. This article highlights recent achievements and developments in wearable sensor-based foot and ankle clinical assessment. An increasing number of studies have established the feasibility and effectiveness of wearable technology tools for foot and ankle disorders. Different methods and outcomes for feasibility studies have been introduced, such as satisfaction and efficacy in rehabilitation, surgical, and orthotic treatments. Currently, the widespread application of wearable sensors in clinical fields is hindered by a lack of robust evidence; in fact, only a few tests and analysis protocols are validated with cut-off values reported in the literature. However, nowadays, these tools are useful in quantifying clinical results before and after clinical treatments, providing useful data, also collected in real-life conditions, on the results of therapies.

Foot and ankle injuries are common in many sports. One of the main athletes issues is the time for sport resumption after trauma. Recently, extensive efforts have been made to speed up the athletes’ return-to-sport and to prevent joint degeneration. Among the conservative treatment options, biophysical stimulation with pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) is listed. This narrative review aims to outline current applications of PEMFs in main foot and ankle sport-related injuries, in particular in the treatment of bone marrow edema, osteochondral defects, fractures, and nonunions. Despite further high-quality studies on foot and ankle injuries are needed, PEMFs seem to be a valid aid to enhance the endogenous osteogenesis, to resolve the bone marrow edema, to inhibit the joint inflammation, preserving articular cartilage degeneration, and to relieve pain.

Human gait is usually studied in clinical environments, but wearable devices have extended gait analysis beyond traditional assessments. Older adults tend to walk differently indoors and outdoors; however, most gait assessments are conducted on indoor surfaces. It is therefore important to evaluate gait in various outdoor environments. Insights gained from these assessments significantly enhance our understanding of the impact of environmental factors on gait performance and ensure that clinical evaluations are effectively aligned with everyday locomotion. A total of 100 participants with foot pain, 38 young (18–45 years) and 62 older adults (65–80 years), completed a 10-Metre Walk Test (10MWT) in three randomised conditions at their typical, comfortable walking pace, including (1) 10MWT of indoor walking, (2) 10MWT of outdoor walking on grass and (3) 10MWT of outdoor walking on a sidewalk. Wearable inertial sensors recorded gait data and the magnitudes of the following gait measures: gait speed, cadence, stride length, stride duration and asymmetry. A statistical analysis using ANOVA and post hoc comparisons revealed a significantly lower gait speed (p < 0.001), lower stride length (p < 0.001) and lower asymmetry (p < 0.001) indoors compared to outdoors, demonstrating that environmental factors significantly affect spatio-temporal gait parameters. Wearable sensor-based gait analysis performed in controlled clinical settings may underestimate real-life conditions. Some important spatio-temporal parameters, useful in detecting people with gait impairment and at risk of falling, are significantly affected by environment and individual postural ability more than demographic factors.