Evaluation of foot dimensions of 10- to- 18 year-old school children in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Foot dimension is of varied benefits both beneficial for clinicians to determine foot types and their abnormalities. The footwear industry can also utilise information on children’s foot types to produce comfortable shoes with the view of minimising the availability of improper footwear that can cause foot deformities. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 10 secondary schools involving a random sample of 518 (boys: n = 235, 45.36%; girls: n = 283, 54.63%) school children (aged 10 to 18 years) selected across different ethnic groups in public and private secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The boys’ foot length was statistically significantly longer (24.79±1.87cm) than the girls’ (23.38±1.39cm) (518) =9.8190, p=0.0000). At the 5th percentile, the foot length was comparable regardless of sex categories. The left and right foot length for boys was 21.5cm and 21.4cm, respectively, while the corresponding data for girls were 21.3cm and 21.4cm. At this level, foot dimension showed proximity in both genders. At the 50th percentile, the left and right foot length for boys and girls were respectively 25.0cm and 23.5cm apiece. The remarkable variance in foot length between both genders was a consequence of a more significant growth increase that occurred in the boys. At the 95th percentile, the left and right foot length of boys was 27.7cm apiece, while the corresponding data for the girls was 25.5cm apiece with gender difference substantially maintained. The knowledge of children's foot dimensions at different age categories would benefit the shoe manufacturing industry in the production of shoes suitable for Nigerian school children and for the prevention of foot-related injuries.

Keywords: Foot dimension, gender effect, school children