Abstract
The development of the human foot is crucial for motor learning in children and adolescents as it ensures the basic requirements for bipedal locomotion and stable standing. Although there is an ongoing debate of the advantages and disadvantages of early and permanent footwear use, the influence of regular barefootness on foot characteristics in different stages of child development has not been extensively evaluated. A multicenter epidemiological study was conducted to compare the foot morphology between habitually barefoot children and adolescents (N = 810) to age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched counterparts that are used to wearing shoes. While controlling for confounders, we found that habitual footwear use has significant effects on foot-related outcomes in all age groups, such as a reduction in foot arch and hallux angles. The results indicate an impact of habitual footwear use on the development of the feet of children and adolescents. Therefore, growing up barefoot or shod may play an important role for childhood foot development, implying long-term consequences for motor learning and health later in life.
Highlights
Even though being barefoot has been a part of human evolution for millions of years[1], over-ground walking and running in industrial countries has been more regularly performed shod in the last few centuries
Since we adapted our analysis for possible confounders such as sex, ethnicity, BMI and physical activity, our findings suggest that habitual footwear use influences the development of foot arch morphology in children
Despite the increasing interest in barefoot locomotion, a habit which has been part of human evolution for millions of years, the evidence is small for its long-term effects on foot characteristics
Summary
Even though being barefoot has been a part of human evolution for millions of years[1], over-ground walking and running in industrial countries has been more regularly performed shod in the last few centuries. A large cohort of habitually barefoot and shod children and adolescents from different age groups is needed in order to investigate if regular shoe use (or regular barefoot locomotion) in the early stages of life influences the anthropometric foot characteristics of children. Such an epidemiological approach should fill the gap in the current research on long-term effects of regular barefoot locomotion. This study’s main hypothesis was to compare key components of foot characteristics (foot and arch morphology, hallux angles and pliability) between habitually barefoot and habitually shod children and adolescents during different stages of development. With regard to the currently available body of research, we hypothesized that habitually barefoot children would have higher foot arches, reduced hallux angles and increased foot pliability than their shod counterparts
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