Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of flatfoot in primary school children in tribal and rural populations in Coimbatore district, south India.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional study made on primary school children between 6 to 11 years of age, from many schools in tribal and rural population in Coimbatore. From 982 total children 65.5% from rural and 34.5% from tribal populations. Flatfoot diagnosis was made by foot print method using Staheli Index.

Results: We found a global prevalence of 25.1%, distributed 28.6% in rural and 18.3% tribal population. The children from 6 to 7 years had prevalence of 29.3%, decreasing significantly after this age. It was found that children 6 to 7 years old from rural population had prevalence of flatfoot 35.4% while children from tribal population only 23% , decreases significantly in children older than 6 years. In the chi square analysis we found association between flatfoot with population and body mass index (BMI).

Discussion: we found a higher prevalence of flatfoot in rural children compared to the tribal children suggesting an influence of social and cultural factors role in the development of flatfoot. The diminished prevalence of flatfoot after six years suggest that treatment of flatfoot before this age wasn’t necessary.