The Human Foot

The Human foot

Some facts:

The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles

This means that ¼ of all bones in your body are actually in your foot!

When walking, each time your heel lifts off the ground it forces the toes to carry one half of your body weight.

Only a very small part of our population is born with feet problems, yet almost 75% of the western world experience feet problems in their lifetime..

It is neglect and a lack of awareness of proper care - including ill fitting shoes - that bring on most of these problems.

Your feet mirror your general health. Conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, nerve and circulatory disorders can show their initial symptoms in the feet - so foot ailments can be your first sign of more serious medical problems

In a pair of feet, there are 250,000 sweat glands which raises the question, why cover and smother them with socks and heavy shoes?

The first foot coverings (mainly to keep them warm) were most likely animal skins.

The Romans actually invented the first pair of distinct left and right shoes

The average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, which adds up to about 115,000 miles over a lifetime. That's enough to go around the circumference of the earth four times.

Our feet and footwear:

The human foot is a highly developed, biomechanically complex structure that serves to bear the weight of the body as well as forces many times the weight of the human body during propulsion.

Before the 1900’s people used to walk and run quite safely with their fore or mid foot in minimal or no shoes.

Shoes were mainly invented to protect from harsh/dangerous environments. Unfortunately as time went by shoes became more and more a fashion accessory and we were bombarded by the media fuelled by shoe giants to wear heavier and more cushioned shoes, effectively encapsulating and numbing all those feelers in your feet.

This will affect your foots natural centre of gravity and reduces sensory feedback of the ground conditions to your brain.

If you must wear shoes, your feet should not be restricted by them but just protect you from extreme temperature and dangerous objects.

People seem to get painful feet in shoes (especially women in high heels), they find them unsafe causing them to trip and fall, it makes them more tired to run and walk in, by covering them severely they block the sweat glands and then complain of bad stench..

All these problems yet we still continue to wrap our feet in uncomfortable boxes.

Or are we?

Awareness of the barefoot benefits is growing!

And where footwear clearly has benefits, we should look at when we actually need it (maybe just outdoors? And maybe only when it it’s too cold or too hot?) and what type.

Barefoot or minimalist shoes are getting more common and offer a great zero drop alternative for “normal” footwear, doing what it should. Protect the foot but not blind it to its environment.

Let’s hope more and more people will see the benefits of treating your feet kindly and reap the overall