Flat Feet and Obesity Among Children

Abstract

Flat feet (pes planus) represents one of the most frequent deformities of the lower extremities which occurs with the collapse of the physiological arches of the feet. The causes of flat feet are numerous. One of the main causes is excessive weight and obesity, problems which this review paper meant to explain by analyzing the works of authors who dealt with this problem from 2000 to 2017. The prevalence of flat feet varies depending on several factors, but all the authors agree that obesity increases the percentage of the prevalence of flat feet among children. The influence of physical activity on any changes to the status of the arches of the feet and a decrease in body weight have been the focus of very few authors. The recommendation is for this problem to be analyzed more because of the positive results that the application of physical activity has on postural status and disorders of the feet. The prevalence of flat feet differs depending on the geographical area, but also depending on age and gender.

The Relationship Between Postural and Nutritional Status in Preschool Children

“…. There are numerous factors contributing to the occurrence of flat feet, but most authors cite overweight and obesity as one of the factors increasing the frequency of this deformity(Živković et al, 2018;Kapo et al, 2020).The analysis of differences in the status of individual body segments of the participants in relation to gender reveals that in most segments (head posture, shoulder posture, chest development, scapular posture, abdominal posture, leg shape, and foot arch), there is no statistically significant difference. Considering that these are children with relatively similar lifestyles both in kindergarten and outside of it, this result is expected.A statistically significant difference is only observed in the deviation of the spinal column in the frontal plane (p=0.033, χ2=4.564) in favor of boys (16.4%) compared to girls (26%).…”