Correlation of body mass index with navicular height in youngs

Background: Flat foot or pes planus is one of the main postural deformities. The arch provides an elastic springy, connection between fore foot and hind foot. The varying lifestyles and food habits has created an ongoing epidemic of obesity in children and adults, and it has highlighted the importance body fat for short term and long term health. The foot print of an obese person looks like a flatfoot print due to the accumulation of fat under the medial longitudinal arch. This gives an impression of pes planus irrespective of navicular position. Thus this study aims to find out whether the navicular bone actually drops according to the BMI. Methodology: The study was done on college a student aging from 18-22, navicular height, Arch index and BMI was calculated by measuring height and weight and the navicular height was measured using measuring scale in standing position. Result: Out of 132 participants including male and female were found to have flat foot. The mean age, BMI, navicular height left & right were 18.86±1.08, 20.84±3.37, 4.24±0.7, 4.38±0.7 respectively. We found BMI is having negative correlation with navicular height. Conclusion: This study reveals that navicular height drops as BMI increases.