Foot dimensions in Thai diabetes

Abstract

Background : A large number of diabetic patients wear ill-fitting shoes which may either have incorrect width or length. Custom-made shoes are the choice for diabetic patients because they are uniquely made for them. The authors aim to obtain the foot dimensions in Thai diabetes in order to find the foot sizes that they mostly have. The most common foot length sizes that they had were brought to compare with the sizes of health shoes provided by a Thai shoe manufacture.

Material and Method : Diabetic patients who could stand upright with weight bearing on both feet were recruited into the study. Four foot dimensions which were, namely: foot length, foot width, heel width and toe depth ball girth were measured while the patients were standing upright. All data were analyzed and presented as frequencies, means and standard deviations. The foot width and toe depth data were comparable to ready-made shoes in the market.

Results : This study recruited 144 diabetic patients who were 56 men and 88 women. Their average age was 60.27 ± 9.90 years. Foot length, foot width and toe depth in men were 23.20-28.30cm (25.42 ± 1.19), 8.70 -12.30 cm (10.28 ± 0.65) and 1.6-2.8 cm (2.18 ± 0.24). Foot length, foot width and toe depth in women were 20.70-25.70cm (23.39 ± 0.99), 8.10 -11.00 cm (9.44 ± 0.55) and 1.35-2.5 cm (1.92 ± 0.23). Most Thai diabetic patients have foot lengths of 22.0-25.0 cm. There were 109 men (97.3%) and 120 women (68.5%) whose foot dimensions could be compared with those shoes. The results showed that 94.6% men had shoe-length size in number 4 - 8 whereas 68% of the women had shoe-length size in number 4 - 6. At the same length, diabetic patients’ feet were wider and larger than their shoe 54.59% (n=125) in men and 17.47% (n = 40) in women, respectively.

Conclusion : Thai diabetic patients mostly have foot lengths of 22.0 to 27.0 cm. Women mostly have foot length of 22.0 to 25.0 cm (90.9%) whereas most men have foot length of 23.5 to 27.0 cm (91.9%). Various foot widths in each foot lengths were noted. More than half of the subjects had wider feet than their health shoes’ counterparts. At same shoe length size should have various width sizes in order to provide more comfort for the patients. Extra-depth should be considered when therapeutic insole is added.