Foot print patterns of the bound feet of a 90-year-old Chinese female were made to obtain insight into the ergonomic
consequences of a Chinese custom that caused significant disabilities for many women throughout history. Pressure patterns
were evaluated using the techniques applied to standard thumb print analsyis. A digital summary of the pressure
patterns were compared to the patterns obtained from a normal subject. The outcomes indicated that the bound foot produced
greater plantar tissue pressures than the non-bound foot. These observations help explain the discomfort, gait abnormalities,
and disabilities exhibited by many older women with bound feet living in China today. Although foot-binding
is no longer practiced, this study offers an ergonomic perspective on a custom practiced in China for centuries

Budimir Mijović

Conrad Colby

Hsian-Chuen Wei

Uwe Reischl

Vidja Nandikolla

Reischl, Uwe

Nandikolla, Vidya

Colby, Conrad

Mijović, B.

Wei, Hsian-Chuen

Boise State University - ScholarWorks

A Case Study of Chinese Bound Feet: Application of Footprint Analysis

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Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 629–632Short communicationA Case Study of Chinese Bound Feet:Application of Footprint AnalysisUwe Reischl1, Vidja Nandikolla1, Conrad Colby1, Budimir Mijovi}2 and Hsian-Chuen Wei31 Faculty of Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA2 Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia3 City of Qingdao, ChinaA B S T R A C TFoot print patterns of the bound feet of a 90-year-old Chinese female were made to obtain insight into the ergonomicconsequences of a Chinese custom that caused significant disabilities for many women throughout history. Pressure pat-terns were evaluated using the techniques applied to standard thumb print analsyis. A digital summary of the pressurepatterns were compared to the patterns obtained from a normal subject. The outcomes indicated that the bound foot pro-duced greater plantar tissue pressures than the non-bound foot. These observations help explain the discomfort, gait ab-normalities, and disabilities exhibited by many older women with bound feet living in China today. Although foot-bind-ing is no longer practiced, this study offers an ergonomic perspective on a custom practiced in China for centuries.Key words: chinese bound feet, foot prints, pressure analysis, ergonomics, historyIntroductionFootbinding was introduced to China in the 7th cen-tury and the tradition continued until the early part ofthe 20th century. The practice of footbinding was consid-ered a status symbol for wealthy families. Small feet onwomen were seen as beautiful and only wealthy familiescould support women unable to perform physical labor.The feet were bound early in life to keep the feet short asthey matured to adulthood. Binding started at the age offive or six and was continued throughout a woman’sadult life1.Binding affected the development of the foot whichincluded the reduction of length, a reshaping of the solethat caused an exaggerated arch, and a reduction of theoverall width of the foot2. The physical appearance of anadult bound foot is illustrated in Figure 1. A radiographof a similar bound foot is illustrated in Figure 2. To ac-commodate the foot deformities, shoes were developed tofit the necessary shape. An example of such a shoe designis illustrated in Figure 3.There are considerable numbers of older women liv-ing in China today whose feet were bound during theirchildhood. Although many of these women discontinuedbinding their feet later in adulthood, the foot deformitiesremain and these women continue to experience signifi-cant discomfort limiting their ability to stand or walk forextended periods of time3. Therefore, an ergonomic eval-uation of Chinese bound feet can provide important in-sight into the consequences of a cultural practice thatwill be forgotten when the affected generation of womenpasses away4,5. The purpose of this study was to provide629Received for publication February 8, 2008Fig. 1. Illustration of an adult Chinese bound foot.(Source: Reference 1, p.20).an ergonomic perspective on the unique foot pressuredistribution patterns that resulted from the deformationcaused by the foot binding practice.Material and MethodsA healthy 90-year old female with bound feet and her56-year old daughter with normal feet participated inthis case study. The mother weighed 47 kg. and had astature of 144 cm. The daughter weighed 56 kg. and hada stature of 157 cm. The footbinding deformity of themother is illustrated in Figure 4.To obtain the foot pressure patterns, the traditionalapproach used for thumb print analysis was employedwhere skin tissue ridges and grooves are identified bycolor intensity differences. Areas of high pressure (rid-ges) are displayed as light while low pressure areas(grooves) are displayed as dark. Both women were askedto sit in a comfortable chair. The women then placed bothfeet into a bowl of water containing red-dye. They werethen asked to take four very slow steps forward startingwith their right foot. A large piece of white paper wasplaced on the floor in front of them. The four footprintsgenerated on the white paper (two right foot prints andtwo left foot prints) were then dried and stored for subse-quent digital scanning and analysis. An example of a dig-itized footprint pattern is illustrated in Figure 5.AnalysisThe foot print analyis was based on the patternobtained from the first step of the left foot. For each step,the todal body weight was being exerted on one foot only.Since the steps were taken very slowly, we believe that nosignificant additional dynamic forces were created whilethe normal gait cycle was maintained. Foot gait cyclestarts from the time when the heel of one leg strikes theground to the time at which the same leg contacts theground again. There are two phases: stance phase andswing phase. We analyzed the stance phase illustrated inU. Reischl et al.: A Case Study of Chinese Bound Feet: Application of Footprint Analysis, Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 629–632630Fig. 2. Radiograph of an adult Chinese bound foot. (Source: Ref-erence 1, p.135).Fig. 3. Example of a shoe for Chinese women with bound feet(Source: Reference 2, p.20).Fig. 4. Illustration of foot deformity of the 90-year old femaleparticipant.Fig. 5. Illustration of a footprint for the normal (left) foot and afootprint for the bound (left) foot.Fig. 6. Stance phase of gait.Figure 6. When the foot is on the ground, the stancephase of gait begins with the heel touching the groundwhile the toes do not touch the ground.I the next phases of motion, the foot contact theground and the forces on the foot change in direct re-sponse to the ground reaction forces that are applied tothe body. During walking, the Center of Pressure (COP)travels medially from metatarsal heads to the big toe asillustrated in Figure 7. Such »rolling« dynamics contrib-ute to the development of good foot prints, similar tothose obtained in human thumb prints. In this casestudy, the impact of both the pressure flow and the pres-sure distribution are shown.ResultsUsing a Medlab® digital imaging system, the paperpressure footprint patterns of both women were scanned.The peak plantar pressure areas are shown in red whilethe lower pressure areas are shown in green. Figure 8 il-lustrates such a color printout. The differences in the to-tal areas of red and green, as well as differences in theproportions of red and green, provide an understandingof the foot pressure distributions patterns.X axis and Y axis scales are in centimetersFurther analysis using 3-D simulation software re-vealed additional (comparative) information about thetwo different pressure distribution patterns. An outputof a 3-D simulation analysis is illustrated in Figure 9.Figures 6 and 7 together show that for a normal foot,body weight is distributed primarily over the toes, themeta-tarsal region, as well as over the mid-foot section,while for a bound foot, the pressure is concentrated onthe meta-tarsal and mid-foot regions of the foot. Table 1shows the actual foot pressure values for both test sub-jects. It must be noted that all contacts, regardless ofpressure intensity, were considered to contribute equallyto the total plantar contact area.Discussion and ConclusionsUse of a foot prints to evaluate plantar pressure dis-tributions for bound feet provided insights into the ergo-nomic consequences of an old Chinese custom. Com-paring bound feet with a normal feet revealed helps tounderstand the chronic discomfort, stunted toe nail growthand skin lesions. Foot ulceration and calluses can be at-tributable to the localized tissue pressures associatedwith a deformed foot6,7. However, it is not clear howmuch impact the anatomical deformation of the boundfoot itself affects the local tissue blood circulation8. Nev-ertheless, the observed phenomena may be the result of acombination of all these factors9,10. Clearly, the on-goingwell-being of women with bound feet will continue to beU. Reischl et al.: A Case Study of Chinese Bound Feet: Application of Footprint Analysis, Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 629–632631Fig. 7. Trajectory of COP.Fig. 8. Pressure distribution patterns for the normal foot (top)and a bound foot (bottom).Fig. 9. 3-D simulation to visualize peak pressure distributionpatterns for a normal foot (top) and a bound foot (bottom).of interest to health professionals in modern China.While the study illustrated a simple and practical appli-cation of a print procedure to document pressure distri-bution patterns of bound and normal feet, the resultshelp explain the pain and disabilty of women with boundfeet in China today. Although the total number of womenwith bound feet is becoming smaller both inside an out-side of China, designers may wish to assist in the devel-opment of shoes that may help reduce some of the dis-comfort experienced by the women with bound feet today.R E F E R E N C E S1. JACKON B, SLIPPERS S, A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradi-tion (Berkeley, Ten Speed Press, 2000). — 2. KO D, Every Step a Lotus:Shoes for Bound Feet (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001). —3. CUMMINGS SR, LING X, STONE K, American Journal of PublicHealth, 87 (1997) 1677. — 4. CHEN CY, HONG PWH, CHEN CL, CHOUSW, WU CY, CHENG PT, TANG FT, CHEN HC, Chang Gung MedicalJournal, 30 (2007) 62. — 5. HESSERT MJ, VYAS M, LEACH J, HU K,LIPSITZ LA, NOVAK V, BioMed Central Geriatrics, 5 (2005) 1. — 6.AGIC A, NIKOLI] V, MIJOVI] B, Coll Antropol, 30 (2006) 315. — 7. MO-RAG E, CAVANAGH PR, J of Biomechanics, 32 (1999) 359. — 8. LE-DOUXWR, SHOFER J, SMITH G, SULLIVAN K, HAYES SG, ASSALM,REIBER GE, J. of Rehabilitation Research & Development 42 (2005) 665.— 9. MIJOVIC B, AGIC A, APERGO (2004) 1. — 10. GEFEN A, J of Bio-mechanics, 35 (2002) 629. — 11. JACOB HAC, Clinical Biomechanics, 16(2001) 783. — 12. RAZEGHI M, BATT ME, Gait and Posture, 15 (2002)282. — 13. SCOTT SH, WINTER DA, J Biomechanics, 26 (1993) 1091.Uwe ReischlFaculty of Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USAe-mail:ureischl@boisestate.eduPROCJENA DISTRIBUCIJE PLANTARNIH TLAKOVA U SLU^AJUPOVEZIVANJA STOPALA U KINIS A @ E T A KPribavljeni su uzorci tlakova otiska stopala 90-godi{nje Kineskinje s povezanim stopalima i uspore|eni s uzorcimatlakova otiska stopala njezine 56-godi{nje k}erke, koja ima normala stopala. Uzorci distribucije tlakova dokumentiranisu u oba slu~aja. Analiza je otkrila da je povezano stopalo proizvelo sveukupno ve}i tlak plantarnog tkiva od normalnog(ne – povezanog) stopala. Rezultati poma`u, djelomice, objasniti nelagodu, nepravilnosti dr`anja i invaliditet koje danaspro`ivljava `ena s povezanim stopalima. Namjera je studije dati ergonomski pregled obi~aja koji jo{ uvijek utje~e nazdravlje i dobrobit brojnih starijih `ena u suvremenoj Kini.U. Reischl et al.: A Case Study of Chinese Bound Feet: Application of Footprint Analysis, Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 629–632632TABLE 1SUMARY OF PARICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS AND RESULTING FOOT PRESSURE VALUESFootConditionSubject Weight(kg)Subject Height(cm)Foot Length(cm)Plantar Contact Area(cm2)Foot Pressure(N/cm2)Normal Foot 56 157 22 110 5.1Bound Foot 47 144 18 76 6.2

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