Investigation of Arch Characteristics under Different Genders and Shoe Sizes

The objective of this study was to collect the arch characteristics by 3D foot scanner to evaluate the gender and shoe size differences, in order to provide manufacturing standards for design of arch support. Five hundred adult subjects (half of females) were recruited in this study. Arch length, arch depth and arch height were used to determine the arch shape, while distance of navicular (%FL), distance of metatarsle tibiale (%FL) and distance of the most medial point of medial border line (%FL) were used to locate the arch position. Results showed that gender difference was significant in arch length, arch height, distance of navicular and distance of the most medial point of medial border line (p<0.01), except for arch depth and distance of the first metatarsal (p>0.05). In addition, this study compared the arch characteristics under different shoes sizes. Results found that arch length would increase with shoe size for both gender, but arch depth would decrease with shoe size only for males. Therefore, the practice of making arch support for men and women by equal ratio scaling method needs to be improved. It is necessary to design the arch support based on arch dimensions for males and females separately. Finally, this study also proposed standards of arch support design of insole to improve the user’s comfort and fitness.