Mobile Apps for Foot Measurement in Pedorthic Practice : Scoping Review
Introduction
Background
Poor foot health is often linked to poor performance in both personal and work life [ 1 ] . Various anatomical and biochemical factors are responsible for the deterioration of foot health , along with overuse , injury , and external trauma . Maintenance of foot health is necessary to keep humans mobile and independent , and consequential negligence can often cause psychological strain along with physical pain [ 2 ] .
In an effort to combat problems related to foot health , clinical treatment programs have been widely adopted [ 3 , 4 ] . These programs consist of clinical interventions , and most of the time require clinicians and patients to have regular face-to-face contact for over 1 year . Such interventions have shown variable efficacies due to fluctuations in adherence by patients over time [ 5-7 ] . These rigorous health programs can sometimes be time- , resource- , and cost-intensive , and can also be inconvenient for patients given that foot problems increase the possibility of impeding movement capabilities [ 8 , 9 ] . Accordingly , there is a need for novel , lowcost , and widely accessible tools to accurately scan and measure patients ’ feet , and provide health feedback to patients . This has become a necessity as many patients face significant barriers related to achieving clinical treatments .
The advancement and accessibility of mobile app technology in recent years have enabled efforts to translate the same traditional clinical treatments and intervention programs in the development and growth of the use of foot health mobile apps . The outcome is the development of mobile apps that can provide insight into patients ’ feet by leveraging the processing capabilities of mobile sensors such as depth-sensing cameras , multicameras , infrared sensors , and features like augmented reality . Many such apps use algorithms and data-mining techniques to suggest foot- and shoerelated solutions based on the procured foot measurement values , whereas others stop at providing basic information such as the suggested size of a shoe based on foot form and suggested forefoot or toe exercises .
Despite an overall increase in app use for foot health conditions , the analysis of several apps belonging to this category has led to the discovery of various problems related to usability , design , and functionality ; the limited availability of free apps ; the lack of provision for user consent ; and , particularly , the lack of certification and the poor quality of the information displayed to achieve their most important goal ( ie , to improve patient outcomes ) [ 10-12 ]. Consequently , these shortcomings have raised questions about the efficacy and applicability of mobile apps used for foot measurement and scanning
[ 10-12 ]
. Objective
To the best of our knowledge , no study has extensively explored the current scenario of the commercial mobile app market to review and scientifically evaluate apps related to foot measurement . The abundance and rapid growth of such foot measuring apps in app stores , along with the increased adoption rate of these tools by the public , necessitates an assessment of this rapidly growing market . Therefore , the objective of this scoping review was to evaluate the published foot measurement apps in the two major commercial app stores ( Apple App Store and Google Play Store ). We evaluated the
14 Pedorthic Footcare Association | www . pedorthics . org