The ABC's of The Foot

Dear reader,

Today I am going discuss about the foot, not to worry too much because it is going to be as simple as possible. It is important to have a reasonable amount of understandings of the foot before we move on to more interesting stuff.

Okay, here we go!

Before you wonder whose foot is that, I actually took it from Google Image. It would be helpful if you can have a quick look at your own feet. Do they have a fairly similar structure and feature? Make sure you have five toes on each side, intact nails, arches on the midfoot and smooth heels.

Interesting fact: The Foot

• Your foot & ankle is a strong, mechanical structure that contains 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons & ligaments.
• All the bones in your feet made up of 1/4 of all the bones in the human body. When these bones are out of alignment, the rest of the body is affected too. (Foot is like a piling a to a building.)
• One foot is often larger than the other, therefore knowing your larger foot is important during shoe fitting.
• When walking, each time your heel lifts off the ground it forces the toes to carry one half of your body weight.
• During an average day of walking (approximately 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day), the total force acted on your feet can be as heavy as a blue whale (170 tonnes of weight).
• The average person will walk around 115,000 miles in a life-time, that’s more than four times around the EARTH!
• 75% of Americans will experience foot problems at one time or another in their lives. Can you imagine ¾ of the population of Malaysians experience foot complication?
• Women have about FOUR TIMES as many foot problems as men. High heels are partly to blame.
• Walking is regarded as the best exercise for your feet. It contributes to your general health by improving circulation and weight control.

Despite the ‘small-ness’ of our feet when compared to our body, they receive huge impact on each foot strike and also depends on how heavy you are. (Sometimes I would blame Gravity!)

The above diagram shows the bony structure of a human foot and can you imagine how all these tiny bones and muscles support the whole body-weight, keep you balanced, act as shock absorbers and allow you to jump and run freely. How can we still neglect our poor feet? It can be quite unfair for them sometimes don't you think so?

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. My contact can be found at my profile. Cheers!

Keep calm more to come! =)