Morphometrics of the Metatarsal Bone and Regression Equation of the Metatarsal Length in Korean

Jeong, Hwa Hae; Seo, Youn Kyoung; Jeon, Su Kyoung; Paik, Doo Jin

Abstract

As the interest in health is increasing and the population enjoyed the leisure sports is steadily increasing, the stress fracture, fracture or variant of metatarsal bone of foot has been shown frequently. The mistaken estimation about the length and rank of metatarsal bones during the osteotomy of the metatarsal bones of foot can be complicated. It is essential to have detailed knowledges about the anatomical structure of surgical region. This study aimed to investigate the metatarsal bones of foot and to develop a regression equation that can predict the length of metatarsal bones during the osteotomy. The subject of this study is fifty four feet (30M/224F). We measured the whole length and the article length of metatarsal bone. Also, we measured the whole width and the article width in the head, body, base of the metatarsal bone. The data was analyzed using SPSS win 13.0. The regression equation models of length of the metatarsal bones were developed by multiple regression analysis. The regression equation predicted first metatarsal length was second metatarsal articular length x0.770+7.780, second metatarsal length was third metatarsal length x0.976+6.050, third metatarsal length was fourth metatarsal length x1.000+0.922, fourth metatarsal length was third metatarsal length x0.917+4.167, fifth metatarsal length was fourth metatarsal length x0.901+7.972. The results of this study would be useful to clarify the characteristics of the metatarsal bone of the foot, to develop a regression equation for prediction of the length of the metatarsal bone.