OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the inter and intra-examiner reliability of photopodometry and the intra-examiner reliability of photopodoscopy. METHOD: Plantar prints from 30 healthy individuals of both sexes with mean age of 21.0 ± 1.32 years were photographed. These individuals were positioned on a podoscope with bare feet, bipedal support and orthostatic posture. The plantar print images reflected on the glass of this instrument were captured using a 2.1 megapixel digital photographic camera positioned on a tripod in front of the podoscope. The images were filed and subsequently subjected to inter and intra-examiner analysis. To verify the intra-examiner reliability of photopodoscopy, the whole procedure of podogram capture and analysis was repeated on the same individuals four weeks later. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for the inter and intra-examiner analyses on the photopodometry were, respectively, 0.96 and 0.98. The ICC for the intra-examiner reliability of the photopodometry was 0.94. CONCLUSION: Photopodometry is a reliable quantitative analysis method and photopodoscopy is an evaluation method applicable to clinical and scientific analyses. They therefore make it possible to follow up the evolution of physiotherapeutic treatment on plantar supports, despite the intrinsic and extrinsic variability between individuals.
photogrammetry; plantar print; reliability
