ブックタイトル教育医学 J.Educ.Health Sci.　第63巻　第2号　通巻 第288号

概要

教育医学 J.Educ.Health Sci.　第63巻　第2号　通巻 第288号

The Relationship between Planter Arch and Motor Ability in Children Aged 0 to 12formed primarily in childhood 5,13) . Other studiesreported that by age 6 or 7, normal-arch feet withplantar arches attain characteristics comparable toadult feet 5,19,20) ; the results of our research showed asimilar pattern. Among the boys aged from 0 to 2,more BL (only left foot normal) were observedamong boys than normal-arch feet, BR or higharchedfeet. Likewise, among girls aged from 0 to 1,more BL were found than normal-arch feet, BR orhigh-arched feet. That is, our results suggest atendency that normal-arch feet are formed after birthfrom the left foot.Assessment of motor ability development is widelyused for determining the overall rate and level ofgrowth and development in early childhood 22) . Thepreschool and school ages are developmental periodsduring which most children acquire the basicrepertoire of locomotor and object control skills 22) .Therefore, we selected 25m sprint, broad jump andtennis ball throw for preschoolers, and 50m sprint,broad jump and softball throw for elementary schoolchildren, as tasks that show motor ability. Amongpreschool children, in the sprint, the ability of boyswith flat feet was significantly lower than theircounterparts with normal-arch feet and with BR (onlynormal-arch feet in the right), whereas girls withnormal-arch feet showed significantly greater abilitythan girls with flat feet and with BR. In broad jump,both boys and girls with normal-arch feet weresignificantly more capable than their counterpartswith flat feet. In ball throw, boys with normal-archfeet set significantly better records than boys with flatfeet, although girls with flat feet did not showsignificantly different records from the other 4 feettype groups. Among schoolchildren, boys with flatfeet showed significantly lower records than boyswith normal-arch feet in sprint and broad jump, whilegirls with flat feet achieved lower results than girlswith the other 4 feet types did in the two activities.Boys with normal-arch feet exhibited more ability inball throw than boys with flat feet. Overall, sprint andjump abilities of boys and girls with flat feet tended tobe lower than children with normal-arch feet, both atpreschool and at school age, although at both agegroups, girls in all the 5 feet categories showedsimilar results in throwing ability. Motor abilityinvolving the lower legs activates a closed kineticchain with the feet being the terminal part of thatchain 20) . It will affect other parts of the chain when apart of this chain is worked or damaged. Tudor et al.reported that different terminal segments of thatkinetic chain influence the motor ability 20) . If flat feetare related to planter arches and to possible risk ofsport injury, then it should influence the motor abilityoriginating from the activity of the leg muscles 20) . Thesprint and jump abilities of boys and girls with flatfeet were significantly lower than their counterpartswith normal-arch feet, although the throwing abilityof girls was similar across all the 5 feet types. Thesprint and jump abilities are presumed to move thelower legs rather than the throw ability would, so thethrowing ability may not be related to the function ofplanter arches. Thus, our results suggested that theafter the age of 4, the functions of lower legs do notinfluence the throwing ability so much as the sprintand jump abilities, in whatever tasks children areengaged.Lin et al. reported that flat feet are correlated withpoor physical performance in preschool children,ranging in age from 2 to 6 11) . On the contrary, Tudoret al. reported that boys and girls at the age of 11 to15, whether they had normal-arch or flat feet, wereequally successful at accomplishing athleticperformances requiring motor skills 20) . Anotherliterature reported that no correlation had been foundbetween flat feet and physical performance, amongathletes and non-athletes at ages 18 to 35 9) . From ourcurrent study, the data of preschool boys and girlsagreed with the previous study that having flat feetaffects sprint and jump abilities. According to thedata of preschool boys, flat feet also had a negativeimpact on the throwing ability. After age 7, however,our results showed that the sprint and jump abilitiesof girls with normal-arch feet were significantlygreater than girls with flat feet., except for thethrowing ability of schoolgirls. Our results and? 172 ?