Correlation Between Gender and Age and Flat Foot in Obese Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to detect the correlation between age and gender with flat foot deformity in obese children. One hundred fifty children ranged in age from 8-14 years participated in this study. They were selected according to body mass index to be obese children, then they were divided according to gender into two groups, group I and group II (75 boys and 75 girls), then each group divided according to age into equal three sub groups (from 8-10 years, from 10-12 years and from 12-14 years) each sub group included 25 children. Evaluation for each child was done using the Foot Posture Index-6 and foot print. The Foot Posture Index-6 was used to asses foot posture, while foot print was used to measure Stahili planter arch index. The results of the study showed that there were significant statistical differences in Foot Posture Index-6 score and arch index between group I (boys) and group II (girls), while there were no significant statistical differences in Foot Posture Index-6 score and arch index in the subgroups according to age. It was concluded that there was significant positive correlation between gender and incidence of flat foot, while there was no significant correlation between age and incidence of flat foot.Key words: Flat foot, obese children, stahili planter arch index, foot posture index-6 INTRODUCTIONThe foot has three arches; the medial longitudinal arch, the lateral longitudinal arch and the transverse arch. The medial longitudinal arch is the highest and most important of the three arches. It is composed of the calcaneus, talus, navicular, cuneiforms and the first three metatarsals. The lateral longitudinal arch is lower and flatter than the medial longitudinal arch. It is composed of the calcaneus, cuboid, the fourth and fifth metatarsals. The transverse arch is composed of the cuneiforms, the cuboid and the five metatarsal bases. The arches of the foot are maintained not only by the shapes of the bones as well as by ligaments. In addition, muscles and tendons play an important role in supporting the arches (George et al., 2009).Deformities of the lower extremities are very frequent in children and most of the time these conditions are physiological and do not need any treatment. Ninety percent of clinic visits for foot problems are due to flatfoot (FF) (Fabry, 2010).The definition of flat foot is not standardized, nevertheless but the height of the medial longitudinal arch is the principal parameter to be observed and measured (Villarroya et al., 2009).

Comparison of ratio loaded and unloaded foot area of flat foot and healthy foot in younger adults

“…The current study shows that the prevalence percentage of flat foot among the total population is 61.76%, two times greater than healthy foot [14][15][16][17]. Flat feet were high in males than females, the prevalence of flat feet was 50.98% in males and 10.78% in females.…”

“…This scanner can tackle shortage of wet foot test which is not accurate because of the difficulty of knowing that the subjects are standing in upright position when printing their foot at a piece of paper [22]. But the method for classifying foot types by Cavanagh's arch index is rather difficult compared to the Staheli's arch index [7] [15]. From the result of this study which showed that significant correlation between AI and RFA, classifying foot types can be done simpler only by measuring LFA using flatbed document scanner and ULFA using 3D scanner compared to the Cavanagh's arch index.…”

Relationship between Nutritional Status and Flat Foot in Children

“…In most researches, boys were claimed to have a higher prevalence of flatfoot than girls. Hazzaa et al 15 reported that the proportion of flatfoot in male was 52% and female was 49%.…”

Eficacia del tratamiento conservador ortésico en el pie plano flexible infantil

“…6 , el 19,1 % de Jerosch y cols. 4 La desigual aceptación de la revisión en consulta entre las niñas (69,23 %) y los niños (35,51 %) condicionó el resultado de 11/4 niñas/niños seleccionados, contradiciendo la mayor prevalencia del pie plano flexible en niños reportado por numerosas investigaciones 2,7,27,28 , que algunos autores las relacionan a factores como edad temprana, sobrepeso, laxitud articular o sedentarismo 2,7,27,28,29 . La no existencia de diferencias significativas en la edad, peso, altura, PRCA, IMC, IPP-6, asociadas al sexo, podría interpretarse como una adecuada homogeneidad de la muestra.…”