Sains Malaysiana 46(10)(2017): 1839–1848

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2017-4610-22

 

Evaluation of Foot Arch in Adult Women: Comparison between Five Different Footprint Parameters

(Penilaian Lengkung Kaki pada Wanita Dewasa: Perbandingan antara Lima Parameter Jejak Kaki yang Berbeza)

 

SHALIZA MOHD SHARIFF^1,2, THAMILVAANI MANAHARAN¹, ASMA AHMAD SHARIFF^1,3 & AMIR FEISAL MERICAN^1,4*

 

¹Centre of Research for Computational Sciences and, Informatics in Biology Bio industry, Environment, Agriculture and Healthcare (CRYSTAL), University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

 

²Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

 

³Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

 

⁴Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

 

⁵Fashion Department, Faculty of Art and Design, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

 

Received: 22 February 2017/Accepted: 31 March 2017

 

ABSTRACT

Foot arch determines the shape of the foot, whether it is normal, flat or high. Excessive body weight is known to be the main factor in altering the foot arches. The foot arches of adult women were determined based on five different footprint parameters (Clarke index, Chippaux-Smirak index, Staheli index, Arch index and the Harris-imprint index) and the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and foot arches were studied. A total of 309 adult women from the age of 20 to 60 years were recruited in this study. The shape of participants’ feet were obtained and their left and right foot arches were determined using five different footprint parameters. Body weight and height were measured and BMI was calculated. Paired t-test and one-way ANOVA were applied to perform the statistical analysis. Our analysis showed that two third of the participants have different foot arches between the left and right feet. The Harris-imprint index exhibited the most significant (p=0.004) differences between the left (mean=0.168) and right (mean=1.011) foot arches. Most of the overweight (53%) and obese (15%) participants have normal arches; however the prevalence of flat and high arches is still higher in overweight (flat arch= 51%; high arch= 52% ) and obese (flat arch= 18%; high arch= 12%) compared to other BMI categories. Harris-imprint index was successfully studied as a suitable parameter in determining the left and right foot arches.

 

Keywords: Body mass index; footprints; foot arch; obesity; women

 

ABSTRAK

Lengkung kaki dapat menentukan bentuk kaki, sama ada ia adalah normal, rata atau tinggi. Berat badan berlebihan dikenal pasti sebagai faktor utama dalam mengubah bentuk lengkung kaki. Lengkung kaki wanita dewasa ditentukan berdasarkan lima parameter bentuk tapak kaki (Indeks Clarke, indeks Chippaux-Smirak, indeks Staheli, indeks Arch dan indeks Harris-imprint) yang berbeza dan hubungan antara Indek Jisim Tubuh (BMI) dan lengkung kaki adalah diperhatikan dalam kajian ini. Seramai 309 wanita dewasa yang berumur 20 hingga 60 tahun telah mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini. Bentuk tapak kaki peserta telah diperoleh dan lengkung kaki kiri dan kanan mereka telah ditentukan dengan menggunakan lima parameter yang berbeza. Berat badan dan ketinggian diukur dan BMI dikira. Ujian-t dan ANOVA sehala telah digunakan untuk menjalankan analisis statistik. Keputusan statistik analisis menunjukkan bahawa dua pertiga daripada peserta mempunyai lengkung kaki yang berbeza antara kiri dan kaki kanan. Indeks Harris-imprint menunjukkan (p=0.004) perbezaan yang ketara antara lengkung kaki kiri (purata=0.168) dan kanan (purata=1.011). Kebanyakan peserta mempunyai berat badan berlebihan (53%) dan mereka yang obes (15%) mempunyai lengkung kaki yang normal; bagaimanapun kelaziman gerbang kaki yang rata dan tinggi masih mempunyai peratusan lebih tinggi dalam kategori berat badan berlebihan (lengkung kaki rata= 51%; lengkung kaki tinggi= 52%) dan obes (lengkung kaki rata= 18%; lengkung kaki tinggi= 12% ). Indeks Harris-jejak telah berjaya dikaji sebagai parameter yang sesuai dalam menentukan lengkung kaki kiri dan kanan.

 

Kata kunci: Indeks jisim tubuh; lengkung kaki; obesiti; tapak kaki; wanita

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*Corresponding author; email: merican@um.edu.my