Knee height

The height of a subject can be heavily influenced by dysmorphisms of the spine (kyphoscoliosis) and bone diseases such as osteoporosis and rickets. Not surprisingly, from the age of 30, stature tends to decrease with aging, by about:

0.03 cm / year up to 45 years;

0.28 cm / year over 45 years.

To eliminate the influence of these factors and obtain a real estimate of the height of the subject, important to proceed with the due anthropometric evaluations, the so-called knee height is used.

The subject examined is barefoot, in a sitting position, with the left leg flexed at 90 ° on the thigh (thus placed at a right angle). The measurement is taken with a metric tape, detecting the distance from the upper edge of the lateral condyle of the femur to the sole of the foot.

The data obtained is then inserted into these formulas:

Stature (cm) males = 64.19 - (0.04 x age) + (2.02 x knee height)

Stature (cm) females = 84.88 - (0.24 x age) + (1.83 x knee height)

BIBLIO: Chumlea WC; JAGS 1985

Stature (cm) = 94.87 + 1.58 x knee height - 0.23 x age + 4.8 if male