Growing-up (habitually) barefoot influences the development of foot and arch morphology in children and adolescents.

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 reduc

SUBMITTER: Hollander K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5556098 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature