Foot Facts

What to spend
You need to get quality trainers, but don't just go for the most expensive pair in the shop, get the right pair for you and your workout. 'A pair of trainers that are a complete waste of money for one person may be the ideal pair for someone else,' says Rob Henderson, marketing manager at specialist sports store Sweatshop. If you're on a budget, look out for clearance sales of last season's shoes.

"There's no point in spending loads of money just for the look of the shoe or the designer label,' he adds. 'You need to get your trainers fitted by a trained specialist. They need to be the appropriate pair for your body and your workout. Your chosen training shoes will depend on your weight, foot pronation (how high or how your foot arch is) and what type of sports you will be using them for. I can't emphasise enough how important it is to be properly fitted and advised. "

Fact
When we run, our body weight is multiplied up to three times, with our feet bearing the brunt of this stress at every stride (over 1,000 strides per mile, per foot). An 11 stone man of average size will process 112 tons of weight through each limb per mile.

New research suggests that supportive footwear first came into use up to 30,000 years ago. Erik Trinkaus, PH.D., derived these dates by analysing anatomical evidence of humans phalanges, which are the 14 toe bones. His research was published in the July issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. Use of protective footwear has been difficult to previously prove because the footwear does not survive the test of time. Trinkaus discovered that the bones of the little toes of humans from that time frame were much less strongly built than those of their ancestors. The most logical cause would be the introduction of supportive footwear.

During bearfoot walking, the smaller toes flex for traction, keeping the toe bones strong. Supportive footwear lessens the roll of the little toes, thus weakening them. He attributes the change to the invention of shoes that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance.

Foot Size Changes Over Time
The dimensions of your foot will expand over a lifetime. This is due to a number of factors, specifically gravity's effect on the structure under your body's weight. How snug or how rigid your footwear is will have its own impact on the foot's intrinsic strength. Your shoe size will almost certainly have increased from what it was in your 20's to at least a half size by the time you're 30 and will continue to change as you age. This knowledge can free you from viewing your foot in a way that may be contributing to its dysfunction.

Achilles heel
The Achilles tendon located in the heel of the foot was named after one of the most famous mythical characters from Ovid's 'Illiad'. In an attempt to immortalize her son, Thetis (Achilles' Mother) dipped Achilles into the River Styx, holding him by his ankle. Therefore his ankle became the only part of his body capable of sustaining a mortal wound. This is why the strongest tendon in the foot acquired the name of Achilles tendon.

The walk of life
The average person walks about 10,000 steps a day. During a lifetime it is thought that a person has walked enough steps to have travelled around the planet more than 4 times, which is approximately 115,000 miles!

Those bones
25% of bones in the human body are located in the feet, which are made up from 52 bones. The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles.

Ladies...
It is important that women wear correctly fitting footwear as on average they walk 3 miles further every day than the opposite sex.

Rising damp
The feet contain approximately 250,000 sweat glands that excrete as much as half a pint of moisture every day.

A Philosopher's thoughts
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates once claimed "When our feet hurt, we hurt all over".

DID YOU KNOW...
During a typical day, the feet endure a cumulative force of several hundred tons.
When you're running, the pressure on your feet can be 3 to 4 times your body weight

Bigfoot
The largest feet in the world belong to a Mr Matthew McGrory who lives in America whose feet are a whopping size 28 1/2 (US size). The 7ft4in resident of Florida, USA has to fork out a massive $22,745 for a pair of shoes to fit his unusually large feet.

There are more nerve endings per square centimetre in the foot than any other part of the body. Our feet constantly supply us with information about the surface we walk on, without our being even being aware of it. They tell us whether the surface is hot or cold, rough or smooth, which side it slopes to, etc...

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