In November 1997, UC San Francisco released details of the first study on the consequences of foot binding. In a news release it said:

The UCSF study, part of a larger study of osteoporosis in China, is the first to look at the prevalence and consequences of foot binding, according to lead author Steven R. Cummings, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and epidemiology and biostatistics.

UCSF researchers examined a randomly selected sample of 193 women in Beijing (93 at 80 years or older and 100 between 70 and 79 years). They found 38 percent of women in the 80s age group and 18 percent of those in the 70s age group had bound foot deformities.

The study shows that women in the 80 years or older group with bound feet were more likely to have fallen during the previous year than women with normal feet (38 percent vs. 19 percent) and were less able to rise from a chair without assistance (43 percent vs. 26 percent).

“We also found that women with deformed feet were far less able to squat, an ability that is particularly important to toileting and other daily activities in China,” Cummings says.

The high prevalence of bound feet might surprise some foreigners who have visited China, since women with bound feet are not seen very often on city streets,” Cummings says. “However, these women tend to stay indoors and in residential areas not commonly visited by tourists.”

The practice of foot binding began in the Sung dynasty (960-976 BC), reportedly to imitate an imperial concubine who was required to dance with her feet bound. By the 12th century, the practice was widespread and more severe — girls’ feet were bound so tightly and early in life that they were unable to dance and had difficulty walking.

By the time a girl turned three years old, all her toes but the first were broken, and her feet were bound tightly with cloth strips to keep her feet from growing larger than 10 cm, about 3.9 inches. The practice would cause the soles of feet to bend in extreme concavity.