An investigation into whether a bare footprint alters in length and width after jumping from a fixed height

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there was a difference in the length and width between a standing static bare footprint and a bare footprint measured after jumping from a fixed height. This was undertaken using samples from 23 podiatry students. Initially, a static print was taken for each participant for both left and right feet. A jumping print was created for both left and right feet after each participant had jumped from a measured height of 48 cm. On both occasions, the participant stood on an inkless mat and then jumped onto reactive paper, creating a two-dimensional print. Gunn’s method was used to analyze each footprint, and the print was measured to see whether a difference existed between length and width of the two prints. For the left foot and the right foot, the results indicated there was a significant increase in length and width between a standing bare footprint and a footprint taken after jumping. There was a more significant increase in length of the left footprint than the right but more of a significant increase in the width of the right footprint than the left. The conclusion from this research was that there was a statistically significant difference in length and width between a static bare footprint and a footprint taken after jumping from a fixed height.