The Foot

The foot and it’s parts

The feet are flexible structures of bones, joints, muscles, and soft tissues that let us stand upright and perform activities like walking, running, and jumping. The feet are divided into three sections:  
The fore-foot contains the five toes (phalanges) and the five longer bones (metatarsals). The mid-foot is a pyramid-like collection of bones that form the arches of the feet. These include the three cuneiform bones, the cuboid bone, and the navicular bone. The hind-foot forms the heel and ankle. The talus bone supports the leg bones (tibia and fibula), forming the ankle. The calcaneus (heel bone) is the largest bone in the foot.

Muscles, tendons, and ligaments run along the surfaces of the feet, allowing the complex movements needed for motion and balance. The Achilles tendon connects the heel to the calf muscle and is essential for running, jumping, and standing on the toes. 

The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles.   All of these are used during walking and running – known as the gait phase.  When we put out foot down on the ground the hind-foot bones (joints) need to bend and rotate.  We make use of the tendons and muscles to help.  Then when we move forward on foot to the mid-foot all the bones in that area need to roll, tip and glide in different motions.  Then finally when we come off the front of the foot the fore-foot bones in the toes need to perform specific motions.  

If one of the 26 bones in the foot is out of alignment this will affect a person’s walking/running. Then add in muscle issues and there is a major problem!  

Any type of problems above the foot in the knee, hip, pelvis, tailbone or lower back will affect this motion chain as well.  We also have to think of the transfer of weight to the opposite side – which will affect the other side too!  COMPLEX!

Of Special Interest

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

1/4 of all the bones in the human body are down in your feet. When these bones are out of alignment, so is the rest of the body. 

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.

During an average day of walking, the total forces on your feet can total hundreds of tons, equivalent to an average of a fully loaded cement truck.