Changes in male foot shape and size with weightbearing.

Full Abstract

Accurate, consistent measurement of foot-ankle geometry is essential for the design and manufacture of well-fitting, functional, comfortable footwear; for the diagnosis of certain biomechanical disorders; and for consistent longitudinal monitoring and assessment of pedorthic treatment outcomes. We sought to formulate a basic set of measures characterizing the principal geometric dimensions of the foot, to investigate how these measures vary with increasing weightbearing, and to explore the implications of weightbearing changes in pedal geometry for orthopedic footwear design and manufacture. The right feet of 40 healthy men aged 22 to 71 years were scanned using the Department of Veterans Affairs Pedorthics Optical Digitizer in neutral alignment, sequentially bearing 0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100% of the subjects' body weight. With support of the full body weight, the following mean changes in the pedal parameters were observed:
heel-to-toe length, 1.5%; ball width, 4.3%; maximum heel width, 4.8%; and instep height, -9.3%. On average, 71% of the changes sustained in the pedal parameters at full weightbearing occurred when, or before, 25% of the body weight was applied.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Houston, Vern L (VL); Luo, Gangming (G); Mason, Carl P (CP); Mussman, Martin (M); Garbarini, Maryanne (M); Beattie, Aaron C (AC);

Affiliation: Veterans Affairs New York Harbor HealthCare System, New York, NY 10010, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 Jul-Aug; vol 96 (issue 4) : pp 330-43

Dates: Created 2006/07/26; Completed 2006/11/21;

PMID: 16868327, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Aged
Ankle - anatomy & histology
Anthropometry
Foot - anatomy & histology
Humans

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.