Analyzing Foot Posture Malalignments in Obese Individuals

Background and objective Obesity often leads to foot deformities due to the increased pressure on the feet, the body's most distal parts. Obesity-induced foot malalignments can impact foot posture, making it essential to study these changes for better understanding and management. Hence, the study aimed to examine foot posture malalignments in obese individuals. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 216 participants - 108 obese and 108 with normal BMI - were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study was performed at Krishna College of Physiotherapy (KCPT), Karad. A well-elaborated assessment was done using Foot Posture Index-6, navicular drop test, degree of toe-out, Meary's angle (MA), and forefoot and rearfoot deviations. This study was statistically analyzed using SPSS Statistics software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY), and results were obtained accordingly. Results Among 216 participants, regarding the FPI-6 assessment, those in the age group of 43-50 years experienced a significant impact on foot (p=0.0003), particularly among the females (p=0.0002). As for the navicular drop test, the 43-50 age group was significantly affected (p=0.0032), with females again being most affected (p<0.0001). While assessing the toe-out angle, the 43-50 age group was significantly affected (p=0.0007) and females were substantially affected (p=0.0018). For MA, the age group of 35-42 and 43-50 years of obese BMI group were significantly affected, with males and females both affected significantly (p<0.0001). Abnormal rearfoot valgus and forefoot varus were combined and seen in the obese population and had a significant impact on the elderly and females (p<0.0001). Conclusions Based on our findings, obese individuals are more susceptible to foot posture malalignments than the normal BMI group. The study also highlighted that the elderly and females are more prone to have altered foot posture, predominantly flat feet.