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The Relationship between Foot Status and Motor Status in Preschool Children: A Simple, Comparative Observational
Milan Kojić1, Branka Protić Gava1, Milan Bajin2
1Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia.
Insights
Preschool children's foot arch status significantly impacts their motor skills, with notable differences observed in most physical tests. This highlights the importance of foot morphology in early childhood development and physical performance.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical therapy
- Childhood motor development
- Biomechanics of the foot
Background:
- Understanding the relationship between foot structure and motor function in children is crucial for early intervention.
- Preschool-aged children exhibit diverse foot morphologies, including normal, high arched, and flat feet.
- Nutritional status (normal, undernourished, overweight, obese) was also assessed in the study cohort.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differences in motor status among preschool children based on their foot arch type.
- To analyze motor skill performance in relation to foot morphology in a young population.
- To identify specific motor tests where foot status shows significant influence.
Main Methods:
- A comparative observational study involving 202 preschool children (aged 3.9-6.5 years) with regular sports participation.
- Assessment included anthropometric measurements (BMI), various motor skill tests (e.g., running, jumping, sit-ups, arm hang), and foot status determination.
- Statistical analysis employed nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U) with a significance level of p ≤ 0.05.
Main Results:
- The study sample comprised 14.9% normal arch, 44.6% high arched, and 20.3% flat feet; 20.3% had asymmetrical foot status.
- Statistically significant differences in motor status were found across different foot arch groups in most assessed tests (p ≤ 0.01).
- Specific tests like sit-ups and bent arm hang showed significant differences related to foot status (p ≤ 0.05), while forward bend did not.
Conclusions:
- Foot arch status is a significant determinant of motor status in preschool children across a majority of physical tests.
- The findings underscore the link between foot morphology and motor skill execution in early childhood.
- Further research may explore targeted interventions based on foot status to enhance motor development.
Background:
The research objective of the study is to determine the differences in the manifestation of the motor status of normally fed preschool test subjects, classified into groups according to foot status.
Methods:
This is a simple, comparative observational study. Preschool children included in this study have been subjected to anthropometric measurements in order to determine BMI, tests for motor skills assessment (running at 20 m from a high start, standing broad jump, backwards polygon, rectangular seated forward bend, plate tapping, sit-ups for 60 s, and bent arm hang), and a determination of foot status. The total sample was comprised of 202 test subjects who attended a regular sports program, aged 3.9 to 6.5 years of decimal age (M = 141; Age = 5.3 ± 0.74; Height = 117.3 ± 7.1; Weight = 22 ± 3.7; F = 61; Age = 5.1 ± 0.73; Height = 114.9 ± 7.4; Weight = 21.2 ± 3.8), of which 153 (75.7%) were normally fed, 6 (3%) were undernourished, 30 were overweight (14.9%), and 13 were obese (6.4%).
Results:
In the total sample, 30 (14.9%) subjects had normal arch feet, 90 (44.6%) high arched feet, and 41 (20.3%) flat feet. We found 41 (20.3%) subjects who had different left and right foot statuses within this sample. The data were processed by means of nonparametric tests (the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests) at a significance level p ≤ 0.05.
Conclusion:
The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between groups of subjects with different foot statuses in the manifestation of motor status in most tests, with a significance level of p ≤ 0.01, and in tests of sit-ups for 60 s and the bent arm hang, there is a statistically significant difference, the level of which is p ≤ 0.05. It is only in the inclination test of rectangular seated forward bend that no statistically significant difference was displayed.
