Monday, April 4, 2011

Facts about Feet

  • During a lifetime, a human being will walk around 185,000 km, which is enough to circle the earth four times! This averages out at 10,000 steps a day. Of course, some people will walk greater distances that others.
  • Despite being relatively small in themselves, feet account for a massive 25% of the number of bones in a human body. A foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. There's plenty to go wrong if they aren't adequately protected.
  • There are around 250,000 sweat glands in a pair of human feet. These can produce up to half a pint (200 ml) of sweat a day.
  • When running, the pressure on feet can be up to four times the runner's body weight.
  • Fingernails and toenails grow more rapidly in warm weather, as well as during pregnancy and adolescence.
  • As many as nine in every ten women in the developed world, wear shoes that are too small for them.
  • Statistically, women have four times as many foot problems as men, with high heels partly to blame.
  • Even though shoes can cause you foot trouble, be extra careful when going barefoot. Places such as communal showers can be a hotbed of nasty diseases like athlete's foot, plantar warts and ringworm. In developing countries, a lack of shoes can leave people vulnerable to all manner of soil-transmitted diseases and parasites, from hookworm and jiggers to podoconiosis and the potentially fatal tetanus.

Bookmark and Share

0 comments: