Abstract
This study was attempted to clarify the characteristics of elderly women's foot shape by examining the various measurements of women over 60 years old as compared with those of women in twenties considered as reference group. The subjects were 321 elderly women and 181 young women. Their right feet were measured directly and indirectly by using scanner and digital camera. The anthropometric measurements were composed of 62 items. They were measured during the months of July and August in 2001. As a result of comparing actual measurements of foot between the two groups, it was found that the elderly women tended to have shorter and lower foot than those among the young women. Among the elderly women, in addition, it was revealed that many deformities related to toes or legs led to the toes concentrated to the central axis of feet resulting in relatively steeper lateral angle of toe, and the heels and legs slanting forwards. As a result of comparing index values of foot between the groups, the elderly women's foot had the relatively wide width and low height in comparison with the length, showing more elliptical flattening than those of the young women. And, the width of the inside was wider than that of the outside, and the toe width was relatively short in comparison with the foot width resulting in severe deformities on the toes or the central axis of foot. Therefore, it was found that there were several deformities including flat foot or deformed toes among elderly women. It is expected that the characteristics of elderly women's foot shown in the results mentioned above will be used as the basic data in designing the footwear for elderly women.
