Frequency of foot pain and its association with footwear among young female DPT students

Foot pain is one of the presenting musculoskeletal condition usually encounter by Physical therapists. It is also found that fashion trends led the choices of footwear especially among females and there's vast range of versatility in female footwear.

This study was conducted to determine the frequency of foot pain and its association with foot wear in young female DPT students.

The cross-sectional survey design was used. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among 333 female students aged 18 to 25 years. Data forms was divided and distributed between all five years of DPT in IPMR and Ojha campus of Dow University of Health Science.

More than half (56.6%) of the participants reported foot pain in past three months using NIS (numeric intensity scale). 53.7% of the participants thought that this pain was associated with footwear. Among footwear choices jogger's and canvases was the first choice followed by pumps & pointed toe box as second choice, 52.3% and 30.9% respectively. Statistically, there were found no association between foot pain and foot wear.

The results of the study has shown that more than half of the participant experienced foot pain disregarding the fact of jogger's and canvases was the top most choice of participants. Therefore, there's needing to create awareness regarding footwear choices that accommodates the foot biomechanically and ergonomically in correct position.