Foot

Foot
Foot
	A human foot - Enlarge to view legend
Details
Artery	dorsalis pedis, medial plantar, lateral plantar
Nerve	medial plantar, lateral plantar, deep fibular, superficial fibular
Identifiers
Latin	pes
MeSH	D005528
TA98	A01.1.00.040
TA2	166
FMA	9664
	Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

The foot is a biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion.

Footwear customs

Customs about foot covering while indoors vary significantly from place to place and usually depend on climate, weather, and other factors:

It is customary to remove one's shoes or boots when entering a home:
- in much of Europe and Canada, and in many homes in New Zealand and Australia.
- in some homes in the United Kingdom (but not in others) in many social situations.
- in some regions of the United States, but not in others.
- in Japan; the custom is so widespread that floors are often made of materials that are too soft to survive being walked on with shoes.
In some cultures, bare feet may be considered unsightly or offensive. In Arab countries and in Thailand, it is considered extremely offensive to show someone the sole of your foot, although the practice of not wearing shoes is common, due to various reasons including hot climate and tradition.

Regardless of covering, according to {{#invoke:Culture_of_Thailand|Customs|Thai norms}} feet are the least respected parts of the body; they should not be in a higher position than someone's head and should not face someone or an image of Buddha.

The feet are one of the most common places to be tickled on the human body. The soles generally tend to be sensitive to tickling.

Customary measurement

One way to measure short distances on the ground is by placing one foot directly in front of the other; this led to the adoption of the foot as a unit of length, even though not all human feet correspond nonalditude to this measure.

Myths

It is a myth that the Imperial "foot" (= 304.8 mm) is about the length of the average European male foot. The average today is less than 270 mm and 90% of the population is within 20 mm of that. Very few men today have feet that are a "foot" long: most are more than 35 mm shorter. In the past, the average length would have been less. Even the overall length of most shoes remains well short of one "foot". Tradition has it that the Imperial foot was based upon the size of Hercules' foot.

The belief that a man's foot size is correlated to the size of his penis has been discredited in anthropometric studies.

Sanding feet will smooth calloses, and make your feet feel smoother. You must press very firmly while sanding.

Parts of the foot

File:Foot-bones.jpg

The bones in the human foot

Heel
Instep
Sole
Ball
Five toes: big, pointer, middle, ring, pinky toes
Toenails

Bones

Disorders of the feet

Additional images

A foot seen from the (lateral view) outside.
Feet seen from the top.
A female's foot compared to a male's foot

A female's foot compared to a male's foot

External links