Foot Facts

At Dr. Comfort®, we’re experts in comfortable footwear that address a number of foot-related medical issues. We’re obviously big fans of feet. Whether you love them or hate them, feet are fascinating. While we usually focus on foot health, we wanted to dive into some interesting facts about feet.

The human foot has been growing progressively larger over the years. In the 1960s for example, the average shoe size for a woman in the US was 6.5. Now the average size is between an 8.5 and 9!

The largest feet (on a living person) in the world belong to Brahim Takioullah of France. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Takioullah’s left foot measures 1’3’’ and his right foot measures 1’ 2.76’’. He’s held the record since 2011. Takioullah is also the 2nd tallest man in the world.

You have a total of 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments in each foot. In addition, each human foot contains about 250,000 sweat glands!

If you sometimes feel like one shoe fits better than the other, you’re not crazy. One foot is usually larger than the other. It’s actually rare to have feet that are the same size. If the difference is noticeable, buy shoes for the larger foot.

We told you about the benefits of walking, but did you know that the average person will walk around 115,000 miles in a lifetime? That’s about 8,000-10,000 steps a day. To that into perspective, 115,000 miles is more than four times around the Earth.

Speaking of walking, when you walk, each time you lift your heel, your toes are carrying one of half of your body weight.

75% of people will experience foot problems in their lifetime. So take care of them! Keep them dry, warm and comfortably protected in shoes that support healthy, happy feet.

Sources:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/foot-health-pictures/funky-feet-facts.aspx
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/why-our-feet-are-getting-bigger-9481529.html