Introduction: Medial longitudinal arch, as a structure that absorbs shock, plays an important role in foot activity. Excessive overweight might change the height of this type of arch which subsequently both results in early fatigue and injury during exercises and change weight. Body mass index is not a proper criterion for measuring daily activity and weight. Nevertheless, this research aims to explore the correlation between body fat and body mass index with regard to the height of medial longitudinal arch.
Methodology: Subjects of this research includes 200 men with an average and standard deviation age of 45.7±6.2, height 172.6±6.39 cm, weight 85.69±11.54. Following completing the consent form the subjects participated in an experiment measuring their BMI by body composition analyzer and their medial longitudinal arch according to Stahli index by pressure distribution tool produced by Foot Scan company. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to examine the normalcy of data distribution and identify (measure) the correlation between variables.
Results: The research findings show a significant correlation between body fat variable and Stahli index respectively for right foot (sig=0.001, r=0.227) and left foot (sig= 0.038, r= 0.174). Also we find that there is no significant correlation between body mass index and Stahli index neither in right nor in left foot.
Discussion: The results show that although there is a direct correlation between body fat and foot-flatness, there is no such a meaningful correlation between body mass and foot-flatness. While this proposition might be a mutual one, yet given the participants’ age it seems that overweight does not result in foot-flatness. This might reduce their daily activities and consequently result in body fat increase.