Foot morphology in Spanish school children according to sex and age

The aim of this study was to analyse the differences in foot dimensions in a sample of Spanish school-aged children. A total of 497 boys and 534 girls from Spain participated in the study. Measurements of both feet were obtained using a 3D foot digitiser, and shoe sizes were recorded and then estimated based on foot length measurements. The variations in foot measurements underwent a gradual increase with age in both boys and girls. Gender differences appeared at the age of 8-9 years, when the girls in the sample were found to wear smaller shoes than those they should have worn. Most foot dimensions begin to differ between boys and girls at the age of 8 years. The girls in the sample studied used footwear that was too small for their foot length, probably because they looked for a better width fit. Practitioner Summary: There is a lack of data on the foot morphology of Spanish school children. We found gender differences in foot morphology, and observed that the girls were not using optimally fitting shoes. These results could be useful for the design of age- and gender-specific children's footwear.