Feet facts

Made of 26 bones, 33 joints and about 100 muscles and tendons, our feet are one of the most complex parts of the human body. They have to be agile enough to adapt to any track, but rigid enough to ensure our stability. It’s not worth saying that ultimate players are sorely testing them…

Here are some interesting facts about feet.

Each foot is different:

In addition to the length, that defines our shoe size, feet can vary by width, shape of the arch, shape…

Each person tends to have a difference between left and right foot. A study led on a large number of people has shown that :

  • 36% of the people had their feet length varying of 3.5mm (0.13 in) or more, which represent half an european shoe size
  • 60% of the people had their feet perimeter varying of 2.5mm (0.07 in) or more,  which represent half an european shoe width size

Depending onhis morphology, one also can be pronator or supinator.

In addition to length, that defines our shoe size, feet can vary of with, eighth of the arch, shape… Each person tends to have a difference between left and right foot. Depending on our morphology, one can be pronator or supinator. You can easily observe by watching the sole of your old running shoes, and the way they are worn essentially on the inside or on the outside of the foot.

Our feet being the base of our mobility, they can be the cause of movement inefficiency or even pain until in our spine. This is why it is recommended to see regularly a podiatrist.

Biomechanics:

The shock absorbing properties of the feet come from the arch shape of the bones. When you take a step, this arch bends your tendons.

To feel this, you can do the following:

Sit on a chair (so you don’t put weight on your feet), put your foot on a white sheet of paper and drawn the circumference of it.
Then without moving your foot, stand up, put weight on it and draw the circumference again.
You will observe that the second sketch is larger than the first one.

The ankle joint is also incredibly complicated, since it allows us to keep our balance even on irregular terrains. 

Sweat:

The foot contains more than 250 000 sweat glands, a figure that might help to remove smelly feet’s complexes!

This sweat is necessary to regulate our body temperature, but it also can develop bacterias or other skin problems due to its acidity.

One of the most common problem due to sweat is athletes foot. In this case cracks appear, generally between the toes, because of too much humidity. In this case, it is important to keep your feet as dry as possible (especially after your shower).

Nails:

For ultimate Frisbee players, nails can be subject to problems such as :

Black nails : in ultimate they are generally caused by shoes that are too tight on the forefoot where the nail will hit
Injuries around the nail and ingrown toenails : to avoid this you have to cut your toenail straight across, not curved, as shown on the picture

Fungal infections: if you are subject to a fungal infection, you can find efficient fungicides in drug stores.

In the end, our feet are sensitive beings…

When you know that our feet gather more than 8 000 nerve endings, you better understand why they are so sensitive to tickles (also why some people have foot fetishists, but that’s another story…).

Part of Chinese medicine is also based on feet to care numerous pathologies.

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