PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

Foot anthropometry provides statistical data on the distribution of foot dimension in the population used to optimize products. Foot anthropometry plays an important role designing good fitting footwear. Changes in life styles, nutrition, and ethnic compositions of the populations have led to the changes in the distribution of foot dimension and thus it requires regular updating of foot anthropometry data collection. This study examined foot anthropometry data of preschool children in Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to develop fit size to shoe design. The data were collected from twelve pre-schools in Selangor, Malaysia. Three-hundred and three pre-school children (129 boys and 174 girls) were randomly selected for this study. Standard anthropometric technique and tools were used. The respondents` foot lengths (left and right), foot widths (left and right), as well as ankle circumference and foot heights were measured and analyzed using SPSS program. The results showed that there were significant relationships among all the foot anthropometry measurements. The results also revealed there that was no difference between the foot anthropometry among the urban and rural pre-school children. The study found that there was a significant difference between the length of the right and left foot. The study also revealed that there was a significant difference between the width of the right and left foot. The data gathered in this study could be further used to develop footwear sizing system.