Structural asymmetry of foot arch formation in early school-age children

• Authors: Jacek Stodółka , Weronika Stodółka , Krzysztof Maćkała
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Study aim: the purpose of the study was to compare foot shapes in early school-age boys and girls. Material and methods: the study included 90 boys and 98 girls aged seven to nine years old. The shape of the foot arch was examined using a podoscope. The longitudinal arch was assessed according to the Clarke angle value on the basis of Kasperczyk’s classification. The transverse arch was assessed according to the Wejsflog index. An analysis of variance, a post-hoc LSD test and a chi-square test were performed. Results: normal transverse arches in both feet appeared in 84% of the examined children. An analysis of the average value of the Wejsflog index showed that it is similar and within limits in all of the test groups indiscriminately when it comes to gender and age. Normally, longitudinal arches in both feet occurr in 44% of children. The average value of Clarke’s index in a test group of school-age girls was within normal range while a functionally flattened foot appeared in the case of seven and eight-year-old boys. Conclusions: the outcomes of the present study conducted on a randomly chosen group of developing boys and girls show that changes in foot structure are mostly symmetrical in nature (almost 90%), meaning that if the left foot is normal, the right one is normal, too. Gender had no effect on the foot build or arch type in either foot. The right and left feet showed symmetrical structure in the majority of the children.

Keywords

EN

Foot assessment ; Arch formation; Early school-age children ; Photometric method

• Publisher: Versita
• Journal: Biomedical Human Kinetics
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1

Dates

online

30 - 6 - 2015

Contributors

author

Jacek Stodółka

• Department of Track and Field, University School of Physical Education, Wroclaw, Poland

author

Weronika Stodółka

• Department of Track and Field, University School of Physical Education, Wroclaw, Poland

author

Krzysztof Maćkała

• Department of Track and Field, University School of Physical Education, Wroclaw, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/bhk-2015-0013