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The Big Toe: What's the Big Deal?

The big toe is the most essential lever in your lower body. When it’s not being pulled, the big toe is a key component of your balance. During walking, the big toe pulls upward to help keep your inner arch taut and absorb shock. When jumping, the big toe helps your calf muscles work efficiently, helping you to jump up and grab a rebound. Lastly, when you propel your body forward during walking or running, your big toe provides a rigid lever to help push you off the ground. A big toe that can’t move up and down creates a whole series of trouble for your lower body. Without an arch, your foot collapses, and other joints (such as your knee, hip, or back) absorb the shock. Athletes that lose the…

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Featured

 Big problems for big toe joints

Big toe joint problems aren't fun, as many people know from personal experience. Red, swollen, or misshapen joints can be unsightly. Still worse, though, is the pain –– and sometimes the risk of immobility –– that accompanies big toe joint problems. Fortunately, you can take some simple steps to help relieve pain and keep you from slowing down.

Articles of Interest

Ancient toe gets a foothold in bipedal evolution

The shift to two-footed walking was profound and unique, setting us apart from all other mammals, and is in some ways akin to what we see in birds. Bipedalism accounts for many of the unusual features of our own bodies compared to the rest of our primate cousins.

Early Humans Toed the Line

The footprints they left behind, the second oldest ever found, reveal that these early humans had evolved big, modern feet--and that they walked just like we do, according to a new study.

Fact or Fiction?: No Big Toe, No Go

A missing toe will keep you out of the armed services, but will it keep you off your feet?

Researchers Suggest Big Toe Was Last Part of Foot to Evolve

Early hominins’ big toes were equipped for life on the ground and in the trees.

The Big Toe:

Big toe function is extremely important to aid in performance of all activities, reduce injury risk and help us balance. Essentially, if we do not use it we lose it. So give the big toe the time of day and play around with it, move it as much as possible and try not to restrict it!

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.

Why your big toes play such a huge role in your health and fitness

If you were constructing a Jenga tower, you’d do everything you could to keep its foundation stable so it stays upright — and the same thinking applies to your body. Toes, in particular, tend to get overlooked in the scheme of fitness, but they play a pivotal role in your stability. After all, they’re the lowest building blocks of your physical frame. Your big toe joint, especially, “is a totally underrated one,” Christynne Helfrich, a US-based physical therapist at virtual clinic Hinge Health, says. “Anytime [our bodies] do anything, those forces start from the ground up.” And your big toes act like levers, she says, bending back to propel you forward.