Effects of wearing shoes on the feet: Radiographic comparison of middle-aged partially shod Maasai women's feet and regularly shod Maasai and Korean women's feet.

Background: Maasai tribe members walk long distances daily either barefoot or wearing traditional shoes made from recycled car tires, without any foot ailments. To figure out the characteristic of their feet, we designed a radiographic comparative study of middle-aged partially shod Maasai women's feet and regularly shod Maasai and Korean women's feet.

Methods: Weight bearing radiographs of bilateral foot and ankle joints from 20 healthy middle-aged bush-living partially shod (PS) Maasai women were obtained.