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Will someone please explain if any correlation exists with a person's foot-size with his height? This is expected as we bipeds have to grapple with gravity (subconsciously!) and make sure that any torque doesn't play spoilsport. Please site appropriate refs. Thanks in advance!

 

You might find the answer by reading up on body proportions, starting with Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

The length of an individuals foot is generally identical to the length of the gap between their cubital fossa and their wrist (no reference - just from memory). See diagram 2 here.

I also remember reading somewhere once that the length of the human foot is approximately 15% of their height. Again no reference I'm afraid (and questionable validity).

 

Maybe you should spend your time reading this paper http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12230622 BJU Int. 2002 Oct;90(6):586-7.

Can shoe size predict penile length?

Shah J, Christopher N.


Source

Department of Urology, St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK. jyoti.shah@ic.ac.uk


Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To establish if the 'myth' about whether the size of a man's penis can be estimated from his shoe size has any basis, in fact.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS:

Two urologists measured the stretched penile length of 104 men in a prospective study and related this to their shoe size.

RESULTS:

The median stretched penile length for the sampled population was 13 cm and the median UK shoe size was 9 (European 43). There was no statistically significant correlation between shoe size and stretched penile length.

CONCLUSION:

The supposed association of penile length and shoe size has no scientific basis.

 

Thanks Ian, you have done the groundwork! Now i need to satiate my desire on stats, without which results are meaningless. Do sound me the moment you get a Ref.

 

Thanks Footfan for your reply. I am more interested about the relationship between foot-size vs height. Average penis size is a fraction of foot-size, am i right? Just joking, but I need some 'hard' evidence for my research, thanks anyway.

 

Not in my case...........but then, my feet are very small;)

 

That's the spirit, Robin, I liked your repartee!

 

Here is an important anatomical comparison of men's anatomy, for those who are interested.:rolleyes:

http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes-anatomy.html

 

Thanks Kevin, but I am not interested in penile lengths. Ain't they too 'labile'?

 

The word you are looking for here is "Allometry". Yes, there is a correlation (with compounding issues) between foot dimensions and body height, but they are not linear. In fact, essentially no biological correlations are linear, but are exponential. This was first described in the 1930's by Julian Huxley (Tom's Grandson, brother of Aldous, and Andrew). Julian formulated the emprical allometry equation - Y=BX to the K (sorry, cannot superscript), where Y is the dimension of one part, B the dimension of another, B and K are constants, K being an exponent. If K is greater than one, B get bigger than Y as they both get bigger; if K is less than one, its gets smaller. All a matter of changing proportions..... Years ago, I had a student (Libby from Albany, West Australia do her final year project of the allometry of foot length to body height. There was so many compounding issues that a clear relationship was not glaringly obvious - but was there. However, I later repeated but used a breadth dimension - and now it sang out. Thus, as always, one has to look past the obvious to find the answers. Cheers Rob

 

Sorry X and K are constants. Rob

 

Certainly, one obvious factor that significantly affects foot size is longitudinal arch height. Individuals with pes cavus deformity will tend to have smaller foot sizes for their height compared to individuals of the same height with pes planus deformities. In addition, individuals with posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD), where severe, progressive medial longitudinal arch flattening occurs over time, will often report about a 1.0 size increase in foot length from before the time the PTTD began to when the PTTD has reached its maximum pes planus state.

Possibly there may be more correlation of height of the body to the length of the foot if the parameter for foot length was, instead of standing foot length, was the total length of the medial column bones of the foot [i.e. (the linear distance from the posterior calcaneus to the talonavicular joint) + (the linear distance from the talonavicular joint to the 1st or 2nd MPJ) + (the linear distance from the 1st or 2nd MPJ to the distal aspect of the 1st or 2nd digit]. I believe this measurement would yield a much higher correlation to body height than would just standing foot length since this would account more for the total pedal bone lengths of the longitudinal arch of the foot and would, therefore, be independent of medial longitudinal arch height.

 

There in lies the danger of writing on the aren when either a) late at night and full of wine, or b) ten seconds after getting out of bed and eyes still closed - in this case the latter is the case!

The allometry equation is A=BX to the K. A = a body part or a whole body (see below) B = a constant. X = another body part of boday, and K = a constant. It is used in three ways. 1) within an organism to look at proportions eg foot lenght to body height; 2) between organisms eg foot length in one species to foot length in another, or 3) ontogentically eg head, body ratio in kids vs adults.

It is a very impirical but useful equation, and Julian Huxley was a hero. Rob

 

Thanks Rob!

 

That's OK.

 

Very helpful, Thanks Kevin!

 

Hi Rob,
Thanks! Wasn't yours the choice a) late at night and full of wine? :)
Regards

 

Never admit to it! Rob

 

That's a great piece of advice Rob!