The prevalence of foot defects among wartime recruits

Abstract

In a sample of 22,843 men aged 17 to 44 who were examined at Leicester in 1941, it was found that: 1. There was an increase with age in the incidence of rigid flat-foot, hammer-toe, hallux valgus, callosities, overlapping toes, and pes cavus. Hallux rigidus and mobile flat-foot showed a relatively even age incidence. 2. There was a real tendency for foot defects to occur in association with one another and with certain other skeletal defects. 3. Tall men suffered more often than short men from metatarsal defects (hallux rigidus excepted), but flat-foot more commonly affected short than tall men. 4. The risk of metatarsal defects increased continuously with increasing “linearity” of body build (as measured by the index Ht [formula omitted]). Flat-foot, on the other hand, was more common among men of stocky build. 5. Men in the lower social classes suffered more often than others from foot defects. The erroneous impression (which pre-dates the National Health Service) that all social classes are equally affected may have been due to a tendency on the part of well-to-do persons to seek medical advice for minor ailments more often than members of the working classes. © 1953, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.