3D characterization and localization of anatomical landmarks of the foot

The anatomical landmarks on the body surface are important to shape and motion analysis. This paper presents a method for extracting anatomical landmarks on the foot from scattered 3D surface points collected by FastSCAN (Polhemus, Colchester, Vermont, USA). By least squares surface fitting, the surface is reconstructed from the scattered points and the Gaussian curvature and mean curvature are calculated. The landmarks formed by underlying muscles and skeletal structures distinguish themselves clearly on the Koenderink shape index maps. The loci of landmarks avail further analysis such as the arch height and tibial torsion.