Abstract
Exploring the structures of the pediatric foot may guide both clinicians and researchers toward better examination techniques. The navicular is the last foot bone to complete ossification and a crucial component of the medial column of the foot. This study explores the developing morphology of the navicular in a sample of four-year-old children using nonionizing sonographic imaging. Correlation was found between the length of the foot and the length of the navicular, with inverse correlation between navicular length and the depth of the navicular from the skin surface. There is preliminary suggestion of a critical foot length at which navicular palpation (and hence associated clinical measures) becomes more accurate. It appears that young children's feet require a different examination approach from more skeletally mature foot structures.