# Height with shoes ON? Life insurance physical **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812 "2014-02-08T02:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/1 "2014-02-08T02:47:13Z")
I had a physical exam for life insurance today, and as part of it the nurse took my height, weight, and all that stuff. But what really threw me for a loop was that she measured my height WITH MY SHOES ON. I asked about this, and she pointed out that that’s what the form she had from my life insurance underwriter asked for. Sure enough, the space for height said “Height (shoes on)”. My question is, how could this possibly be useful? Note there was no corresponding space to write the height of the heels of the shoes. I assume that from height and weight they are calculating BMI and other such health stats, so what good does having the “shoes on” height do? I was wearing normal business shoes with maybe a 1" heel, but what if I had been wearing slippers? Or 5" platform shoes? Stilts? 🙂 I can’t believe that removing shoes is considered particularly onerous for anybody who’s already answering a bunch of personal medical history questions and provided blood and urine samples. So, anybody know why they asked for shoes-on height? And what they plan to do with it, now that it’s basically corrupted information? They might as well have asked for “height on tip-toes” or “height with knees bent a little, but not too much” for all the accuracy it’ll provide. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/2 "2014-02-08T02:50:20Z")
> [@ski](#): > > I had a physical exam for life insurance today, and as part of it the nurse took my height, weight, and all that stuff. But what really threw me for a loop was that she measured my height WITH MY SHOES ON. I asked about this, and she pointed out that that’s what the form she had from my life insurance underwriter asked for. Sure enough, the space for height said “Height (shoes on)”. > > My question is, how could this possibly be useful? Note there was no corresponding space to write the height of the heels of the shoes. I assume that from height and weight they are calculating BMI and other such health stats, so what good does having the “shoes on” height do? I was wearing normal business shoes with maybe a 1" heel, but what if I had been wearing slippers? Or 5" platform shoes? Stilts? 🙂 > > I can’t believe that removing shoes is considered particularly onerous for anybody who’s already answering a bunch of personal medical history questions and provided blood and urine samples. > > So, anybody know why they asked for shoes-on height? And what they plan to do with it, now that it’s basically corrupted information? > > They might as well have asked for “height on tip-toes” or “height with knees bent a little, but not too much” for all the accuracy it’ll provide. I don’t get it. I’m wearing my drywall stilts for my next physical! I’ll be listed as like 10’8" tall! And that will drop my BMI down to like, I dunno, whatever number Manute Bol was minus a few more points. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/3 "2014-02-08T16:33:10Z")
As long as both your height and weight are measured with your shoes on, the extra height and weight more or less cancel each other out. What’s so hard to understand about that? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/4 "2014-02-08T16:39:26Z")
It’ll increase both your height and weight, but why would it cancel out? Even if there’s some shoe for which that’s true, there’s enough variation in shoes that it certainly won’t always. And as noted, it’s really easy to avoid the problem by just taking shoes off. ---
**Author:** ![Batistuta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/5 "2014-02-08T16:50:10Z")
I think you’re reading too much into a tiny issue. Quite simply, they want to save you and the nurse some time by allowing you to keep your shoes on. Why? Because they’re unlikely to make a difference. Weight-wise, it’s unlikely that your shoes will weigh more than 1, maybe 2 kilos. Not a big deal. Height-wise, the soles of your shoes might add a few centimetres. If you happen to wear high heels, the nurse will use this special equipment they have called ‘common sense’ and ask you to take them off. But in most cases measurements with shoes on will be accurate enough for all intents and purposes ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/6 "2014-02-08T17:20:01Z")
Well, whether it’s a tiny issue or not has never stopped a thread from getting multiple pages on the dope! 😉 I hesitate to do this because of the high likelihood I’ll get it wrong, but here I go: [BMI](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index) is mass(kg)/(height(m))^2. So a change in a unit of height will have more of an impact on BMI than a change in a unit of mass. I’ll leave it to the people who do math to work out the specifics, but there could be a time where a 2.5 cm rise in height could drop a person from one category to another. Most times, it probably doesn’t matter, but if you’re on the cusp, it could. Assuming BMI is what they’re interested in anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/7 "2014-02-08T17:55:01Z")
> [@](#): > > If you happen to wear high heels, the nurse will use this special equipment they have called ‘common sense’ and ask you to take them off. In which case, you’ll still get the wrong answer, on a chart calibrated assuming “normal” shoes. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/8 "2014-02-08T18:35:30Z")
Those charts used to measure women’s height ‘in 2" heels,’ which always struck me as ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/9 "2014-02-08T20:08:58Z")
I’d guess they subtract “standard shoes” from the measurements. Probably (hopefully?) not 2 inch heels for women any more, but maybe an inch and a pound or two. The errors remaining are probably small enough that it’s not worth the cost in terms of time to have people take their shoes off. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/10 "2014-02-08T20:57:05Z")
But why even bother? It’s not like taking your shoes off for a physical is burdensome or unexpected. How bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/11 "2014-02-09T22:36:26Z")
Thanks, that’s exactly what I don’t understand - the nurse was at my house for almost an hour, blood and urine samples, blood pressure, asking tons of personal questions like do I have AIDS, do I smoke and drink and how much, are my parents alive or dead, how’s their health, here sign this so we can obtain all your medical records, yada yada. But what, you want me to remove my shoes? Never! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/12 "2014-02-09T22:42:05Z")
Why are you wearing your shoes in the house in the first place? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/height-with-shoes-on-life-insurance-physical/680812/13 "2014-02-09T22:45:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why are you wearing your shoes in the house in the first place? 😉 He just got back from having his cat declawed. (I kid, I kid!)