Foot structures and their correlations with body height

Abstract

Anthropometric information, such as bone and soft tissue length correlations with body height, is obtained from forensic science and biomechanical studies. Generally, studies on the relation between body height and measures of bones require access to long bones, which are not always available. Footprint size is traditionally used to determine height, but little is known about the relation between foot bones and height. In this study, we evaluated 138 ankle MRI and X-ray scans and compared the measures of four structures (the talus, distal tibia, second metatarsal and Achilles tendon) with body height. The measures of the talus and distal tibia correlated moderately with height (Pearson`s correlation coefficients of 0.58 and 0.57), and the length of the second metatarsal correlated weakly with height (Pearson`s coefficient of 0.42). The following regression equation was observed: height (m) = 0.993 + 0.013 x talar length (mm) (+/− 7 cm). The Achilles tendon (AT) had low correlation with height (Pearson`s coefficient of 0.19). A sex difference was observed: all three bone structures had a weak correlation with height in female; in male, the length of the talus had a moderate correlation with height (Pearson`s coefficient of 0.56), and the length of the second metatarsal had a low correlation (Pearson`s coefficient of 0.16). This is one of the few studies that studied a Latin American population and proposed a regression equation for body height as a function of the length of foot bones. The sex difference observed in the proportions of the forefoot and hindfoot that correlated with body height might explain some of the differences in foot biomechanics between male and female.