Absolute and relative foot dimensions of males and females school children in Southwest Nigeria aged 10 to 18 years

Abstract

Absolute and relative foot dimensions are two classifications of anthropometric measures that are of important consideration when designing footwear for males and females. Besides, it can also be of benefit to the clinicians in determining foot types and deformities. A localized, two-stage, stratified, Cross-sectional survey was conducted in 10 secondary schools involving male and female students with a total sample size of 518 (males: n= 235, 45.36% females: n 283, 54.63%) aged 10 to 18 years selected across different ethnic groups in public and private secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The independent t-test conducted on the students population shows that the males’ foot length were statistically significantly longer (left foot: 24.79±1.87cm; right foot: 24.77±1.89cm) than that of their females’ counterpart (left foot: 23.38±1.39cm; right foot: 23.40±1.35cm), (left foot: t (518) =9.8190; right foot: t (518) = 9.6080), p=0.0000). The males’ heel width were statistically significantly wider (left foot: 5.56±0.82cm; right foot: 5.63±0.84cm) than that of the females’ heel width (left foot: 5.29±0.72cm; right foot: 5.29±0.71cm), (left foot: t (518) =3.9520; right foot: t (518) = 4.9894), p=0.0000). Similarly, the ball width of the male students was statistically significantly wider (left foot: 9.23±0.98cm; right foot: 9.31±0.97cm) than that of the female students ball width (left foot: 8.70±0.72cm; right foot: 8.66±0.76cm), (left foot: t (518) =7.1435; right foot: t (518) = 8.5605), p=0.0000). A one-way ANOVA conducted on the children’s foot length, heel width and ball width at different age cohorts showed statistically significant difference between the four age groups. This study concluded that the absolute and relative foot dimensions of male children were larger than their female counterparts from the assessed parameters. The result also revealed statistically significant differences in foot dimensions at different age categories.