Mobile Apps for Foot Measurement in Pedorthic Practice : Scoping Review
Discussion
Principal Findings
The findings of this review are discussed from three main aspects : ( 1 ) the viability of apps in podiatric practice for making custom shoes , ( 2 ) the viability of apps for individual use for general measurement purposes , and ( 3 ) the potential of inducing behavioral changes about foot health and foot-related problems among users .
This review demonstrates that although there are a handful of foot measurement apps available in commercial stores , the performance of the apps with regard to the objective ( s ) of this study is poor and the features are insufficient . The objective of foot measuring apps available in app stores to be used in clinical practice to facilitate custom-made shoes is not being achieved using the current configuration . Although apps may be used for different purposes such as online shopping for shoes and insoles , and the casual measurement of feet , they are deemed unusable as pedorthic tools for the professional measurement of foot dimensions , which require comprehensive fulfillment of the measurement criteria determined by this study to achieve proper and precise measurements for custom-made shoes and insoles .
Most of the reviewed apps met less than half of the measurement dimension criteria required to properly measure the feet of users . Some of the apps that were used for foot measurements did not provide sufficient relevant information about the actual foot dimensions they measured ; rather , this information was used and processed for other purposes . No app included any information about the degree of accuracy that could be achieved from the measurement with the used technologies .
In general , most of the current apps belonging to 3D categories could reconstruct a 3D model of the feet . Some apps measure a small number of foot properties and send scanned information to their internal servers to construct a 3D foot model . Other apps take in information to find and fit custom-made shoes and insoles / orthoses for users ( possibly with foot-related disabilities and zonal pain ), and have them delivered to the user ’ s home . However , except for 6 ( 23 %) apps ( Nimco Professional Shoe Sizing , Fischer Scan-Fit , 3D Avatar Feet , SUNFeet , 3DSizeME , and Anodyne Scanner ), no other app reported the user ’ s foot dimension information with sufficient detail to enable custom-made shoes ( and insoles ) to be built . The app 3DSizeME is mentionable in this respect owing to its performance and data shareability options , which are lacking in most current apps , thus making the mobility of data difficult . In general , the apps tended to focus on particular measurement criteria , which cannot completely describe the structure of the foot to make custom-made shoes .
The results also showed that current apps have low fidelity for inducing behavioral changes to promote foot health and an awareness of footrelated problems
32 Pedorthic Footcare Association | www . pedorthics . org