Table 4.
A summary of the studies examined relating to footwear habits and foot length and width.
| Author | Study Type | Ethnicity | Participants & Age Range | Mean Age (±SD) | Method of Analysis | Main Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hollander et al. [50] | Cross-sectional | Included ethnicity as a confounding variable, however, did not specify what the ethnicities were. | 810 male and female 6–18 years |
11.99 ± 3.33 years | Foot width Foot length |
Foot length and foot width increased with age. Longer feet found in the age groups 6–10 and 14–18 for habitually barefoot participants (HB 6–10 years: 20.90 ± 1.38 cm; HS 6–10 years: 20.62 ± 1.45 cm; HB 14–18 years: 25.76 ± 1.94 cm; HS 14–18 years: 24.94 ± 1.65 cm). Wider feet were found in the age group 6–10 for habitually barefoot participants (HB 6–10 years: 8.23 ± 0.49 cm; HS 6–10 years: 8.08 ± 0.51 cm). |
| Kusumoto et al. [76] | Cross-sectional | Filipino Japanese |
582 male 541 female 7–18 years |
N/A | Foot length Foot width |
Tokyo boys had longer feet than Isabela boys aged 8–12 years (T 8 years: 19.6 ± 1.2 cm; I 8 years: 18.4 ± 0.9 cm; T 12 years: 22.8 ± 1.1 cm; I 12 years: 21.5 ± 1.7 cm). Tokyo girls had longer feet than Isabela girls aged 7–11 years (T 7 years: 18.6 ± 1.1 cm; I 7 years: 17.6 ± 0.6 cm; T 11 years: 21.9 ± 1.3 cm; I 11 years: 20.7 ± 1.3 cm) The relatively wide feet present in Isabela children was hypothesised to be due to a difference in their foot shape. |
| Wolf et al. [75] | Cross-sectional | N/A | 18 male and female 6–10 years |
8.2 ± 0.7 years | Foot width | A study investigating the acute changes in foot width in different footwear. Foot width showed a variation of 10% during the gait cycle when barefoot. Foot width variation was reduced when wearing shoes to 4% in shoe 1 and 6% in shoe 2. |
| Mauch et al. [49] | Cross-sectional | N/A | 448 male 562 female 3–12 years |
Australian 4.3 ± 0.6 & 9.6 ± 1.4 years German 4.2 ± 0.7 & 9.6 ± 1.4 years |
Foot length | The German preschool children’s feet were significantly longer than their Australian counterparts (G: 16.8 ± 1.1 cm; A: 15.8 ± 1.1 cm) When matched for height, differences in foot length were still seen. There was no difference in foot length in the primary school children (G: 22.1 ± 1.5 cm; A: 21.9 ± 1.6 cm). The foot width was within the measurement error and was not discussed. |
Abbreviations: HB—Habitually Shod; HB—Habitually Barefoot; T—Tokyo; I—Isabella; G—German; A—Australian; N/A—Not Available.