Impact of body weight and age on plantar pressure in typically developing children: Normative data and methodological considerations.

Purpose: Pedobarography is frequently employed for the identification and characterisation of foot pathologies in paediatrics. However, the lack of standardised normalisation methods presents a challenge for cross-age comparisons. This cross-sectional study provides normative plantar pressure data for typically developing children aged 4-17 years and compares normalisations and explanatory powers of parameters measuring peak and total load.

Methods: Dynamic foot pressure of 101 typically developing children aged 4-17 years was measured at self-selected speed using the mid-gait protocol. They were divided into five age groups: 4-6, 7-8, 9-11, 12-14 and 15-17 years old. Force and pressure variables measuring peak and total load were normalised by body weight or scaled by maximum value and the foot region where the peak pressure occurred was identified.

Results: The absolute values demonstrated an increase in load with advancing age. In contrast, when normalised to body weight, peak pressure and pressure time integrals decreased. The scaled peak pressure showed a load shift to the forefoot. The results indicate that the normalised parameters exhibit superior qualitative significance, suggesting a more dynamic gait pattern and improved morphology of the foot in relation to body weight with increasing age.

Conclusions: This study shows that standardisation of the measurement protocol is imperative because results in typically developing children can vary depending up parameter selection and normalisation technique.

Level of evidence: 3.