A new report seen by Ukmedix shows that when young children are obese it can have an effect in their development and especially in the feet bones possible causing deformed bones. The extra weight that they carry around with them means that growing bones and ligaments can be pushed out if shape in the long term. The human foot is a very delicate instrument that is made up of lots of little bones and tiny tendons as well as blood vessels and nerves that are all there to act as a cushion when jumping and running but if they are put under too much pressure things may go wrong.

The study that was done by the University of East London examined over 200 children in Scotland who were between 9 and 12 years old. Of the children just over a quarter were obese about 8% were very obese and 15% were just overweight with the rest being of normal weight. The researchers noted that the obese children’s feet were sometimes up to 1.5 cm longer as well as 0.7 cm wider than the feet of normal weight children. When looking at the feet of very obese children it was seen that their feet were 1.8 cm longer on average and as much as 1.5 cm wider.

In a separate study a group of eleven year olds of who 50% were obese were examined for their walking abilities and it was clearly seen that obese children were more unstable when walking. The researchers saw that as well as walking more slowly, they would spend a larger amount of time standing with both feet firmly on the floor and could not stand on one foot for as long as normal weight children.

The research shows up another problem of being obese namely that a vicious circle starts to form by where the more weight that is put in the less the children are able to walk efficiently and get exercise. The researchers even suggested that by making obese children do physical activity could in fact be more harmful for their feet.