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The Heel-Ball Index of the human foot is a quantitative measure and is defined as the ratio of the maximum breadth of heel multiplied by 100 and divided by the breadth at ball region (Breadth at heel x 100/Breadth at ball). This index was developed by a group of scientists while working on a north Indian population. Kewal Krishan, Tanuj Kanchan, Neelam Passi and John A. DiMaggio devised this index in 2012 on a sample of 303 North Indians. It has been shown that the index shows sexual dimorphism and was found to be greater in females than males. This index can be used as a tool for sex determination in forensic and medico-legal examinations of human remains as well as a new trait in studying the population variability in biological anthropology.
Potential uses
This Index may be helpful to forensic anthropologists, forensic scientists, forensic podiatrists and anatomists in forensic casework and conducting further research on human foot.