Footprint analysis between three and seventeen years of age.

Footprints of both feet were analyzed from 1676 schoolchildren of both sexes (1013 girls and 663 boys), aged between 3 and 17 years. The sample was divided into five age groups. In each footprint the Footprint Angle and the Chippaux-Smirak Index were obtained. Classification of individual shapes of foot arches and different types of foot morphology followed that used by Jaworski and Puch in 1987. A high percentage of lowered longitudinal medial arch in the youngest age group of the study was found. The percentage is lower in the older age groups. The longitudinal medial arch has a physiological development in the earlier years of growth.