Prevalence of Flexible Flat Foot in Adults: A Cross-sectional Study

Flat foot (pes planus) is a commonly observed disorder in clinical practice. The height of Medial Longitudinal Arch (MLA) determines the degree of pes planus. Majority of the previous studies on prevalence of flexible flat foot were done among children.

The present study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of flexible flat foot among 18-21-year-old Indian adults using Navicular Drop Test (NDT) which is regarded as reliable and valid method to characterise MLA.

The present study was a cross-sectional study in which Brody's Navicular Drop Test was performed in five hundred healthy subjects (250 males and 250 females) aged 18-21-year-old. Navicular Drop (ND) of ≥ 10 mm was regarded as flexible flat foot. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0.

The prevalence of flexible flat foot was 13.6% (for males-12.8%; for females-14.4%). The median with Inter Quartile Range (IQR) for ND among males was 6 mm (4-8) and 6 mm (4-9) for right and left foot respectively. The median with IQR for ND among females was 6mm (4-10) and 7mm (3-8) for right & left respectively. The correlation of Right Side Navicular Drop (RND) with height and weight was significant, but insignificant correlation was found between RND and BMI. The correlation of Left Side Navicular Drop (LND) with height, weight and BMI of individuals was statistically not significant. The difference between the ND of males and female group was statistically not significant.

The present study quantified the prevalence of flexible flat foot and gender wise normative values of ND among 18-21-year-old Indian adults. The information obtained by this study will be useful in the field of orthopaedics.