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The foot is an amazing and intricate structure. The bones in your feet make up about one-fourth of all the bones in your body. Each foot contains 26 bones. It takes 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and numerous tendons to hold the bones in place and to move in a variety of ways. In addition, each foot has about 125,000 sweat glands that excrete as much as a half a pint of moisture each day.
The human foot consists of:
- Seven thick, short, tarsal bones that compose the heel and back of the instep.
- Five parallel metatarsal bones that form the front of the instep. They spread toward the front of the foot to form the ball of the foot.
- Fourteen smaller phalanges that make up the toes. (The large toe has two, each smaller toe has three.)
- Tough bands of tissue (ligaments) that connect the bones and hold them in place.
- The tarsal and metatarsal bones that form the two arches of the foot.
- A thick layer of fatty tissue under the sole, which helps the arches absorb the pressure and shocks of walking, running and jumping.
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External Sources
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American Podiatric Medical Association
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The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
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The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society
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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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