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Tag: foot

The foot (plural feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails. The human foot and ankle is a strong and complex mechanical structure containing exactly 26 bones, 33 joints (20 of which are actively articulated), and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. An anthropometric study of 1197 North American adult Caucasian males (mean age 35.5 years) found that a man’s foot length was 26.3 cm with a standard deviation of 1.2 cm. The foot can be subdivided into the hindfoot, the midfoot, and the forefoot: The hindfoot is composed of the talus (or ankle bone) and the calcaneus (or heel bone). The two long bones of the lower leg, the tibia and fibula, are connected to the top of the talus to form the ankle. Connected to the…