On Flatfooted Children of a Primary School in Sendai.

Abstract

The children of a primary school in Sendai were examined for the frequency of flat-feet, and among them the children of 6-th year class were subjected to closer examination for investigating the possible correlation of flat-feet to the bodily growth (in height and weight) and the athletic ability (running and jumping), as well as the relative frequency of flat-feet among the relatives of flat-foted children. The results obtained were in summary as follows: 1. Among our subjects, flat-foot was more frequent among the children of lower classes and tended to decrease with the advance of age. 2. In body weight, the flat-footed girls alone showed significantly higher values than the normal-footed girls. No such difference was observed among the boys and in stature. 3. No difference in running ability was observed between the flat-footed and the other children. 4. Among the girls, the flat-foot group showed superiority in jnmping to the non-flat-foot group. Among the boys, no such a difference could be established, bat the 2 boys showing particularly high jumping ability were slightly flat-footed. 5. Flat-foot was particularly frequent among the brothers and sisters of flat-footed children.