INTERESTING FOOT FACTS

 

The pressure on the feet when running can be as much as four times the runner's body weight.

The average foot gets two sizes longer when a person stands up.

Fingernails and toenails grow faster during hot weather, pregnancy, and teenage years.

25% 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 your body.

Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries in sports. Because the inner ankle is more stable than the outer ankle, the foot is likely to turn inward from a fall (ankle inversion) which results in an ankle sprain.

The average woman walks 3 miles more per day than the average male.

About 5% of Americans have toenail problems in a given year.

Cigarette smoking is the biggest cause of Peripheral Vascular Disease (disease of the arteries of the feet and legs) which often leads to pain on walking, ulceration, and in the most severe cases - gangrene and possible amputation.

Madeline Albrecht holds the world record for most feet sniffed at 5,600.

In a pair of feet there are 250,000 sweat glands.

During the first year of a child's life their feet grow rapidly, reaching almost half their adult size. By 12, a child's foot is about 90 percent of its adult length.

The average child will take its first steps around 13-17 months - but between 10 and 18 months falls within the "normal" range.

The average person will walk around 115,000 miles in a lifetime, that's more than 4 times around the Earth!

The record for the world's largest feet belongs to Matthew McGrory who wears US size 28 1/2 shoes. The average male shoe size is 10.

It takes at least five to six months to grow an entirely new toenail.

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

Typically in a person's mid-30's, the natural fat pads on the bottoms of the feet made of collagen & elastin gradually start to thin out, causing foot pain by the end of the day unless properly cushioned footwear is worn.

The ancient Romans were the first to construct distinct left and right shoes. Before that, shoes could be worn on either foot.

9 out of 10 women wear shoes that are too small for their feet.

Women experience foot problems 4 times more often than men.

The first boots were designed and made for Queen Victoria in 1840.

65 out of 1,000 people get corns or calluses on their feet.

Plantar fasciitis affects about 10 percent of the US population.

Sweat glands in the feet product approximately half a pint of perspiration daily.

60 million Americans or 25% of the U.S. population have flat feet.

Shoe size in Britain is measured in Barleycorns a unit of measurement that stretches back to Anglo-Saxon times.

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, affecting an estimated 20.7 million adults in the United States, mostly after age 45.

More than half the women in America have bunions, a common foot deformity in which the joint that connects the big toe to the foot gets larger and juts out.

The average adult takes 4,000-6,000 steps a day.

Akshat Saxena holds the world record for having the most toes with 10 digits one each foot!

About 20-30% of the world's population have Morton's Toe, a foot condition in which the second toe is longer than the big toe.

In America, the average shoe size has gone up two sizes in just four decades.

Soles of feet contain more sweat glands and sensory nerve endings per square centimeter than any other part of the body.

Over 2 million Americans seek treatment for plantar fasciitis (heel pain) each year.

Feet are at their largest in the evening.

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

It’s rare that two feet are exactly the same; one of them is often larger than the other.

The first foot coverings were probably animal skins, which Stone Age peoples in northern Europe and Asia tied around their ankles in cold weather.

Foot disorders in the elderly are extremely common and are the cause of much pain and disability, and consequent loss of mobility and independence.

A human foot & ankle is a strong, mechanical structure that contain 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons & ligaments.

Walking is the best exercise for your feet. It contributes to your general health by improving circulation and weight control.

Standing in one spot is far more tiring than walking because the demands are being made on the same few muscles for a longer length of time.

Foot ailments can become your first sign of more serious medical problems. Your feet mirror your general health, so conditions like arthritis, diabetes, nerve and circulatory disorders can show their initial symptoms in your feet.

75% of Americans will experience foot problems at one time or another in their lives.

Butterflies taste with their feet, gannets incubate eggs under their webbed feet and elephants use their feet to hear – they pick up vibrations of the earth through their soles.

Sweat glands in the feet produce approximately half a pint of perspiration daily.

3 out of 4 Americans experience serious foot problems in their lifetime.

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.

Only a small percentage of the population is born with foot problems.

It's neglect and a lack of awareness of proper care - including ill fitting shoes - that bring on problems.

Women have about four times as many foot problems as men. High heels are partly to blame.

Walking is the best exercise for your feet. It also contributes to your general health by improving circulation, contributing to weight control, and promoting all-around well being.

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.

Arthritis is the number one cause of disability in America. It limits everyday dressing, climbing stairs, getting in and out of bed or walking - for about 7 million Americans.

About 60-70% of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of diabetic nerve damage, which in severe forms can lead to lower limb amputations. Approximately 56,000 people a year lose their foot or leg to diabetes.

There are 250,000 sweat glands in a pair of feet. Sweat glands in the feet excrete as much as a half-pint of moisture a day.

Walking barefoot can cause plantar warts. The virus enters through a cut.

The two feet may be different sizes. Buy shoes for the larger one.

About 5% of Americans have toenail problems in a given year.

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.

There are currently more websites on the Internet having to do with foot fetishes than with foot health.

The foot accounts for 25% of the bones in the human body.

There are roughly 250,000 sweat glands on a pair of feet.

The first shoes were invented 5,000,000 years ago during the Ice Age and were made from animal skins.

The afternoon is the optimum time to shop for shoes because the feet tend to be more swollen then.

Shoe sizes were devised in England by King Edward II who declared in 1324 that the diameter of one barely corn- a third of an inch- would represent one full shoe size. That’s still true today.

The feet can contract an array of nasty diseases from communal showers: Planter Wart, Athletes foot, Ring worm