Associations between footwear fit and developmental milestones in toddlers: a cross-sectional study.
Kenji Takaki, Yasuaki Kusumoto, Eri Takahashi
PMID 40599841WHAT IT FOUND
In 13 toddlers, insole length was not related to foot length.
A larger difference between shoe size and foot length was positively linked to higher locomotor scores only; other developmental domains showed no clear link.
Key findings
01The study enrolled 13 toddlers with a mean chronological age of 26.5 ± 4.5 months.
02Foot length and insole length were not significantly correlated (r=0.12, p>0.05).
03The difference between shoe size and foot length was significantly positively correlated only with locomotor movements (r=0.61, p<0.05); no significant associations were found for other developmental domains.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 13 toddlers were studied, and the footwear sample size was 14. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that footwear caused or improved developmental scores. Children with developmental disorders, intellectual disabilities, neurological diseases, and orthopedic conditions were excluded, so the findings do not cover toddlers with those conditions. Daycare teachers, not independent clinicians, performed developmental assessments, although they received training. The authors state that correlation does not imply causation and that further research is needed.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that better-fitting shoes improve toddler development. The study found only a cross-sectional correlation between shoe-foot length difference and locomotor scores in 13 children, and it did not show that changing footwear changed development.