Understanding the Human Foot: An Illustrated Guide to Form and Function for Practitioners

The Foot

To truly grasp the complexity of the human foot, we must understand the environment in which it operates. One’s choice of footwear is one aspect of that environment, but the foot also operates in the context of the constantly changing focus of gravity, ground reaction force, and momentum. Rather than replicating the non-contextual, force-free world presented in most anatomy texts, we will examine the foot…considering its form, function, and environment.

Finding the Right Fit

It is true that life is better when you are wearing the perfect shoes. But what defines “the perfect shoes”? The correct fit? The perfect style and color? The right height? Comfort?

Getting the right fit matters and there are a number of simple tips that can help.

• The first is to shop in the afternoon as your feet tend to increase in volume by up to 3% during the day. That measurement even increases to 8% during vigorous exercise (Yates 2012) so think about the timing of your shopping trip
• Most of us have one foot a little longer than the other, so buy for the larger foot. It is easy to add liners or heel pads to decrease the space in the shoe for the smaller foot
• Make sure you are wearing the same type of sock that you will wear with the shoe— do not try your shoes on with thin nylon stockings, only to go home and wear the new shoes with thick woollen socks
• The end of the shoe should be around 10–12 mm from the end of your longest toe—and that could be your second toe, not the big toe
• Be wary of buying longer shoes to compensate for a wider foot. Despite normal human variation, many manufacturers do not make shoes in different width fittings and to find the correct width it can be necessary to buy a longer size
• The heel counter, if there is one, should match the needs of your foot. Does your foot need more support? Is the heel counter too soft or too hard?