The foot is the body’s link to the ground; it is required to act as both a shock absorber and as a propulsive mechanism, putting the foot under enormous stress and loads as we walk. Starting from childhood these stresses and loads accumulate dramatically over a life time of walking, causing the foot to become a site of frequent pathological deformities.
The structure of the human foot has not changed significantly in over a million years. The environment in which we live however has changed immensely. Human feet are best adapted to walking on soft and yielding surfaces. Not the hard and flat floors and pavements we spend so much time on today. This modern environment, in which we live, combined with foot wear fashions, puts the contoured human foot at a functional disadvantage.
Podiatrists are trained to understand the intricacies of the structure and function of feet and lower limbs in relation to the body as a whole. With this understanding we may diagnose and treat a wide variety of foot deformities and conditions. |
