The Feet

Did you know that you'll walk more than 100,000 miles in your lifetime?

Over 80% of Americans suffer from foot pain.

Medieval Europeans believed that wearing pointy-toed shoes would make witches helpless.

As the pointy-toed shoe trend began catching on, the points began to grow longer and longer, becoming a status symbol. The longer the points were, the higher up that person was on the social status ladder.

Shoes worn by some aristocrats were so cumbersome that their pants had to be fastened to their legs to allow them to walk without tripping!

High heels were first introduced in the 16th century by Queen Catherine de Medicis of France.

In the same century, Italian women began wearing very strange-looking, two-foot high (!)
platform shoes called "chopines." They were originally designed to keep women "on a pedestal", so to speak. The shoes became later banned because they presented the danger of miscarriage to pregnant women who fell from the towering heights.

The average little toe is much smaller today than little toes were 100 years ago. That's because those little toes have been squeezed (and contained) into tight shoes.

About 60% of the body's weight is supported by the balls of the feet, not the heels.

Bones in the feet are not completely formed until a person is about 20 years old.

The average man walks seven miles a day; while the average woman walks about 10 miles daily.

The foot measurement began in ancient times was based on the length of the human foot.

By the Middle Ages, the foot as defined by different European countries ranged from 10 to 20 inches.

In 1305, England set the foot equal to 12 inches.

In animals that walk on all four legs, the ends of the front and hind limbs, or feet are much the same.

In humans, birds and animals such as the kangaroo that walk on their hind limbs, the foot is heavier and stronger than its counterpart on the upper limb, the hand.

The human foot has 26 bones. There are three sets of bones: the ankle bones (tarsals), instep bones (metatarsals), and toe bones (phalanges).

The foot has as many muscles as the hand. But the foot's structure allows for less flexibility and freedom of movement than does that of the hand.

Your feet are often a good indicator of your general health.

Swollen ankles can mean congestive heart failure. Feet that are insensitive to pain and temperature can be a sign of diabetes.

Cold feet may signify circulatory disease.