title: Incidence of floating toe and its association with the physique and foot morphology of Japanese children.
abstract: [Purpose] Physical development, foot morphology, and toe contact of children aged 3 to 5 years were assessed in order to investigate the relationships between body and foot morphology and the incidence of the condition known as "floating toe". [Subjects] A total of 198 children, aged 3 to 5 years old, participated in this study. [Methods] Height and weight were measured for body morphology, and foot length and width were measured for foot morphology. Footprint images were taken to calculate the number of floating toes. Information about the children's height and weight at birth, and the time of starting to walk was obtained from their guardians. [Results] At least one floating toe was observed in 87.7-98.7% of the children depending on their ages. The fifth toe was most commonly affected, occurring in 74.2% of the study population. Among the body and foot morphology parameters, only weight at birth showed a significant but very weak correlation with the number of floating toes. [Conclusion] There was a high incidence of floating toe among the children, with the fifth toe most commonly affected. Floating toe weakly but significantly correlated with weight at birth, but did not correlated with other measures of physique at birth, physical development, or the time of starting to walk.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe International University: 9-1-6 Koyocho-naka, Higashinada, Kobe, Hyogo 658-0032, Japan ; Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Science, Fukushima University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Joint Surgery and Sports Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jinno
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morita
keywords: Floating toe; Foot morphology; Physical development