A Study on Estimation of Stature from Foot Measurements

Stature is an important measure of physical identity. The identification of an individual from mutilated body remains is a challenge in Forensic practice. It is of vital importance in estimating stature of unknown individual, especially when portions of body parts are available like in disasters. It has been established that the dimensions of lower extremities show greater association with the body height than those of upper extremity. There is a scarcity of literature on the estimation of stature from foot length and foot breadth among various Indian populations. Hence this study was undertaken in this part of Karnataka, study group comprised of 173 individuals between 17 to 22 completed years. There were 85 male individuals and 88 female individuals for the examination. The data is subjected to stepwise linear regression and correlation statistical tools applied using SPSS Software. The present study has established significant correlation between stature and foot length and also derived regression equations. It is observed that higher strength of correlation between height and LFL in males and combined RFL and LFL in females.