Foot
The foot ranks high among the most ill-constructed elements of the modern human musculoskeletal system - Bruce Latimer PhD
image by: Lucky Goyal
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What Makes the Human Foot Unique?
Our feet stand us up. The bones that make up the feet represent a quarter of the human skeleton, and yet, despite comprising such a large percentage of the body, they have largely eluded us in the fossil record until recently. This is frustrating because it's clear that this story — the evolution of the human foot — has captivated us for hundreds of years. It is after all linked to the pivotal development of bipedalism in our history. Understanding differences between our feet and those of other apes (both ancestral and contemporary), can give us clues into the changes that were necessary for bipedalism — and perhaps for bipedalism itself. What has emerged is a story of diversity in locomotion…
Resources
Anatomy of the Foot and Ankle
The foot is traditionally divided into three regions: the hindfoot, the midfoot, and the forefoot (Figure 2). Additionally, the lower leg often refers to the area between the knee and the ankle and this area is critical to the functioning of the foot.
Ankle and foot anatomy
If you’ve watched a documentary film about primates likes chimps or orangutans you may have thought how useful it would be if we could use our feet the same way we use our hands. Then we could underline our anatomy textbook with our hands, and make flashcards with our feet at the same time. But, evolution has refined our feet to be compatible with walking bipedally. This is why the anatomy of the foot might roughly resemble the anatomy of the hand but is still different enough to have different functions.
Being human: Big toe clung on longest to primate origins
Scientists have found that our big toe was one of the last parts of the foot to evolve, a study suggests. As our early ancestors began to walk on two legs, they would also have hung about in trees, using their feet to grasp branches.
Muscles of the Foot
The muscles of the foot can be split into two groups, the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles. The extrinsic foot muscles are found in the lower leg and act to dorsiflex, plantarflex, invert and evert the foot. The intrinsic foot muscles are entirely contained within it, and primarily act to move the toes.
Rethinking the evolution of the human foot: insights from experimental research
Adaptive explanations for modern human foot anatomy have long fascinated evolutionary biologists because of the dramatic differences between our feet and those of our closest living relatives, the great apes.
The Essential Human Pedal Arch
The foot ranks high among the most ill-constructed elements of the modern human musculoskeletal system—an observation that necessarily begs the question: Why is this so? Upright, bipedal gait is the defining characteristic of our lineage; humans and our immediate ancestors have been practicing it for at least 5 million years. Why hasn’t evolution perfected this hallmark adaptation?
The Neglected Consequences of Foot-Binding
Just how much is society willing to damage women in order to control them?
What Makes the Human Foot Unique?
The story of the human foot is still unfolding. It is unique because it is best suited to our style of bipedal locomotion.
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