Foot characteristics during walking in 6-14- year-old children

Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 11;10(1):9501. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-66498-5.

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to establish foot characteristics during walking in children. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 1 284 primary-school students aged 6-14 years (714 boys and 570 girls) randomly selected from five schools in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. Children walked across a pressure platform (EMED-xl; NovelGmbH, Munich, Germany) to collect the data for both left and right foot during three trials. After the procedure, the software generated several foot characteristic variables: (1) force-time integral, (2) pressure-time integral, (3) contact area, (4) contact time, (5) peak pressure and (6) average pressure for the total foot. Curves for the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th percentiles were calculated using the Lambda, Mu and Sigma (LMS) Chartmaker software. Our results showed that boys had longer force-time integral, higher contact area and contact time values, and higher peak plantar pressure, while no significant differences in pressure-time integral and average plantar pressure between sexes were observed. Older boys and girls had higher values in all measured variables. Our results provide for the first-time sex- and age-specific foot characteristics during walking in 6-14-year-old children.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Foot / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Walking*