CHANGE OF FOOT SIZE WITH WEIGHTBEARING - A STUDY OF 2829 CHILDREN 3 TO 18 YEARS OF AGE

The change of foot length and width with age has been reported in a fe w anthropometric studies in the literature, However, the relationship with body height rarely is reported, and the dynamic effect of weightb earing on foot size has not been documented, In this series, 2829 chil dren 3 to 18 years of age of equal gender distribution were included i n the study, The foot length and width on weightbearing and nonweightb earing were measured with a special precision electronic caliper, The foot length and width were found to increase linearly from the age of 3 years until 12 years in girls and 15 years in boys, This was followe d by a phase during which the increase plateaued, The foot length and width increased significantly on weightbearing at all ages in both gen ders with a mean of 2.1 to 4.4 mm or 3.1% to 4.8%, respectively, The f oot length and width also were found to correlate significantly with t he body height in both genders, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96 to 0.98, No significant differences were found between the sizes of t he dominant and nondominant foot in either gender.