Indian Journal of Basic and Applied Medical Research; September 2014: Vol.-3, Issue- 4, P. 272-278 272 www.ijbamr.com P ISSN: 2250-284X , E ISSN : 2250-2858 Original article: Prevalence of flat foot among 18 -25 years old physiotherapy students: cross sectional study 1 Miss. Tejashree Bhoir, 2 Dr. Deepak B. Anap, 2 Dr. Abhijit Diwate Date of submission: 28 June 2014 ; Date of Publication: 15 September 2014 Introduction Pesplanus (’flat foot’) is one of the most common conditions observed in adult health practice. [1] The true prevalence of flatfoot is unknown, primarily because there is no consensus on the strict clinical or radiographic criteria for defining a flatfoot. [1] But some authors reported that the prevalence of flexible flatfoot in children, (2 to 6 years of age) is between 21% and 57%, and the percentage has decreased to 13.4% and 27.6% in primary school children. [2] Literature on the incidence and symptomatology of adult flatfoot is limited . Ferciotestimated a 5% incidence of flatfoot in all children and adults. [3] Harris and Beath studied 3,619 Royal Canadian Army recruits and found that 15% had a simple hypermobile flatfoot, 6% had simple hypermobile flatfoot with a tight heel cord, and 2% had a tarsal coalition. [4] The development of foot arch is rapid between 2 and 6 years of age and becomes structurally matured around 12 or 13 years of age. A flexible flat foot has an arch that is present in open kinetic chain (non-weight bearing) and lost in closed kinetic chain (weight bearing). A rigid flatfoot has loss of the longitudinal arch height in open and closed kinetic chain, generic classification of flat foot deformities that differentiated between flat feet due to physiological and pathological etiologies. Causes of flat foot can be Congenital flat foot, adult flexible flat foot, posteriortibial tendon dysfunction, tarsal coalition,peroneal spastic flat foot, latrogenic, post traumatic arthritis, charcot foot,neuromuscular flat foot. [5] Foot and ankle specialists agree that flatfoot is a frequently encountered pathology in the adult population. Adult flatfoot is defined as a foot condition that persists or 1 Physiotherapy Student, PDVVPF’s, College of Physiotherapy, Ahmednagar , India 2 Associate Professor, PDVVPF’s, College of Physiotherapy, Ahmednagar , India Corresponding Author: Miss. Tejashree Bhoir Abstract Background: Pes-planus (’flat foot’) is one of the most common conditions observed in adult health practice. The objective of our study wasto find out prevalence of flat foot in a population of 18 to 25 year old physiotherapy students and to find out correlation of BMI with arch index Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted with sample of 80 physiotherapy students fitting in inclusion criteria. Different outcome of the study that is navicular drop test, arch index, foot posture index were assessed for each subject. Result : Prevalence of flat foot in a population of 18 to 25 years old physiotherapy students was 11.25% for all subject affected with bilateral flat foot. According to theage, 18 years were having 2.5% of flat foot bilaterally, 19 years were having 3.75% flat foot bilaterally, 22 years were having 3.75 % flat foot bilaterally, 24 years were having 1.24% flat foot bilaterally. The mean Navicular drop test value was 11.11 for all subject affected with bilateral flat foot and 6.66 for normal subjects & pronation score (FPI) for flat foot subjects mean was 7.44 (+6 to +11) bilaterally. Conclusion: From our study we concluded that, prevalence of flat foot in a population of 18 to 25 years old physiotherapy students was 11.25% and all subject affected with bilateral flat foot. There was no significant difference according to gender & there is no correlation of BMI with arch index. Key Words: Flat Foot,Arch Index,Navicular Drop test,Foot Posture Index.