The Foot: Health & Anatomy
Foot Anatomy
Before we jump into how you can keep your feet healthy, we need to get to the bottom of things i.e. the anatomy of our feet!
The foot is one of the most intricate parts of the human body. It’s best described as a rigid lever and a mobile adapter. These two phrases always make me wonder:
The foot adapts to the surfaces on which it is placed. This is possible thanks to the 26 bones which make part of the whole unit. Each joint moves accordingly, thus adapting to the ground below.
On the other hand (foot?!) we have the rigid lever property. After the shock absorbing phase, the foot needs to become a rigid lever to propel the body forward - from walking, standing up from a chair, or winning the 100m sprint. The 29 muscles all work together to do this.
How to Keep Feet Healthy
Like any other group of muscles (gym rats you know this!), we have to stretch, strengthen, mobilise, and teach our foot muscles to work. You can do this by following some simple exercises. Toe yoga is a great start to maintaining healthy feet! Toe Yoga? Is that really a thing? Well, we like to think so… and this is how you can get started:
Can you pull your big toe up without moving the others? Can you pull the little toes up without moving the big toe? You should be able to, but most people aren’t. We challenge you to try!
What’s Causing Foot Health Problems?
The main issue is traditional shoes. You know? Probably 99.9% (we’re giving you the benefit of the doubt here) of the shoes you have in your cupboard. The ones that have accompanied you for years? Those are a huge problem for the health of your feet!
Why? We hear you ask! Simply because they have always limited all the above movements. The soft cushioning, narrow toe box, tough materials, and lack of space for movement all result in damaging your feet. Sure, the damage doesn’t happen overnight, so you might not even notice. But trust us, one fine day, maybe in your youth or worse, when you’re older and more fragile, the pain will start.
So, are we doomed to unhealthy feet? Not at all! The introduction of barefoot shoes will help wake up your feet, and you can also give your feet a little workout using some of our accessories from time to time!
