Comparative Analysis of Foot Temperature Associated with the Use of Sports and School Footwear in Children Aged 9 and 10 Years

Background/Objectives: Children’s footwear plays a key role in foot protection and development, influencing both mechanical and thermal comfort. However, there is limited evidence on how different types of footwear affect foot thermoregulation in the pediatric population. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the thermal pattern of the pediatric foot and to compare temperature differences in plantar and dorsal regions following the use of school and sports footwear.

Methods

A total of 108 schoolchildren (61 girls and 47 boys), with a mean age of 9.46 ± 0.52 years, participated in the study. A non-randomized within-participant repeated-measures crossover design was used, in which each participant was assessed wearing both types of footwear on two separate days, with each child therefore serving as their own control. Thermographic measurements were performed using a Flir® E60bx camera (FLIR Systems, Wilsonville, OR, USA) after 3 h of school activity. Footwear conditions were compared within each region of interest (ROI) of the plantar and dorsal surfaces using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, with Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction.