Abstract

This study identifies the foot shapes of elderly women by classifying foot type according to the 3D shape of the foot and 2D sole type analyzing individual characteristics. The subjects were 295 elderly women over 60 years of age who live in Gwangju. A foot scanner (K&I Technology <TEX>$Nexcan^{(R)}$</TEX>) was used to obtain three-dimensional shapes of feet and a flat bad scanner (HP Scanjet G2410) was used to obtain the two-dimensional shapes of soles. The anthropometric measuring items consisted of 59 items estimated on the right foot of each subject. Data were analyzed by various statistical methods such as factor analysis, ANOVA and cluster analysis using the SPSS 19.0 statistical program. To classify the side type of elderly women's feet, three-dimensional measurement data were analyzed for the 27 measurement items using factor analysis and 6 factors were extracted (inside height and side gradient, ankle thickness, toe height and midfoot size, lateral malleolus height, instep, and heel height and gradient). A cluster analysis resulted in three types: 36.5% belonged to Type 1 (high forefoot and high midfoot), 31.1% belonged to Type 2 (high forefoot and low midfoot), and 32.4% belonged to Type 3 (low forefoot and high midfoot). The distribution was relatively even. For the sole, 8 factors were extracted (ball width and medial foot protrusion, lateral foot protrusion, forefoot and hindfoot length ratio, ball gradient, heel size, toe breadth, lateral ball length, and foot length) and a cluster analysis resulted in three Types (Type H, Type D, and Type A). The largest proportion (42.7%) belonged to Type H, which is the same as the elderly men's case.

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