Insufficient strength in the toe-muscles has been noted as a cause of fall-related accidents among children. However, few studies have been conducted on the development of the toe-muscles and gender differences.
Objective: The study examined the development of muscle strength in the toes and its differences between boys and girls.
Methods: The subjects were 410 children, comprising 97 4-year-olds (51 boys and 46 girls), 135 5-year-olds (60 boys and 75 girls), 108 6-year-olds (50 boys and 58 girls), and 70 7-year-olds (37 boys and 33 girls).
Results: The toe-muscle strength and the standing long jump showed high reliability. In variance analysis of the results of age-specific and gender-based mean values, calculated at half-year intervals varying two factors (gender and age), significance was found only in the age factor with regard to toe-muscle strength, height, and weight. The regression between the mean values and age for children of each age also appeared to be significant. For the standing long jump, there was a significant relation with gender difference; however, no significant differences among the means for each age group were found.
An increasing degree with age is judged to be smaller in the toe-muscle strength than in the height and broad jump, but the same as the weight. A comparison of the coefficients of variance showed that individual differences in toe-muscle strength were large and the toe-muscle strength was weakly correlated with that of height, weight, and the standing long jump.
Conclusion: Although there were increases in toe-muscle strength for children aged 4–7 years, there were no significant differences between boys and girls, and the rate of increase in strength was lower than the increases in height and the standing long jump. The toe-muscle strength was correlated with the standing long jump and showed large individual differences.
