Relationships between foot dimensions and plantar pressure distributed in older people

The relationship between plantar pressure under the foot and the dimensions of the foot are essential for shoe manufacturers to design suitable footwear and evaluate foot problems, especially for older people. This study observed the plantar pressure of 7 older subjects during walking and calculated the measurements of their foot dimensions by videogrammetry. The aim of the present study is to focus on older people and find the relationship between the following issues: the plantar pressure parameters, which were calculated for contact area, contact pressure, peak pressure, pressure-time integral, force, and force-time integral of the three main foot regions and the whole foot with foot dimensions. The results show that the highest pressure was in the forefoot and hindfoot. The highest positive correlation was found between the mean weight of older subjects with the plantar pressure parameters of the whole foot and the forefoot area. In addition, the high negative correlation was located in the foot length with relation to the whole foot contact area; furthermore, the forefoot breadth was negative correlated with most of the plantar pressure parameters underneath the whole foot. The forefoot breadth had a negative correlation with the contact pressure and peak pressure values in the forefoot. No significant correlation was found between midfoot and hindfoot breadths and plantar pressure parameters for these regions. Future work may be extended to other foot dimensions like body height and toe length of the foot when influenced by pressure.