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Funky feet or biomechanical advantage?


athlete feet

Adaptations to imposed demands are what has propelled us and many other species to survive through the history of time. From an ant eater developing a long snout to search for food, to humans becoming bipedal and losing our tails. There are also adaptations that happen within our lifetimes. Things such as gaining muscle, bone density, etc. These things are beneficial, but it requires pushing our relative limits a bit to get there in some cases.

An interesting one that came to mind was feet. I strongly support the notion that have strong and mobile feet can be very important in performance as well as day to day life. Our feet are incredibly designed, from the high density of sensory receptors in the sole of the foot, to the 33 bones and numerous ligaments. I also have a relative perception and belief of what a relatively “healthy” foot looks like, relatively meaning that is not to say someone with these characteristics does not have a normal functioning foot. At the same time what if different shapes and appearances of feet can serve different functions?

lebron feet

One image that popped up a few months ago was a photo of Lebron James’ feet (right). As you can see they are what some may refer to as dysfunctional, I’m sure someone tried to put him in orthotics at some point. What if they are actually a benefit to him over the “healthy” feet. There is no denying that LeBron is in the top 1% of the top 1% of athletes in terms of physical ability. Having 13 years in the NBA on his resume, he has been an example of resiliency and durability, not having had any significant injuries. So how can he have such an amazing resume and such apparent hindrance for feet. This brings the question, are his feet from a biomechanical aspect a potential hindrance or a positive adaptation?

tim duncan

These type of feet are not at all uncommon in sports. They are actually common on some of the most gifted athletes in the world. It was tough to find feet that didn’t look that way. Even in my playing days, many of my team mates who were pretty athletic had feet that looked like that. In terms of NBA players one of the only ones I came across that did not were that of Tim Duncan. For those not familiar with Tim, he was a 7 foot forward with exceptional skills from a fundamental point of view, he ran the floor well, but he would not be considered highly athletic by NBA standards. It is also important to note that Tim was a swimmer up until age 16 when he then transitioned to basketball. Obviously this is mainly anecdotal based on select images (not every athlete has pictures of their feet online haha) and my experience over the years of playing basketball at a relatively decent level. So I came to the question: “What if those ugly crooked feet served a purpose?”

First let’s look at why one would want a foot that is strong mobile and with toes relatively splayed. A larger surface area would definitely help distribute ground force better as can be seen in many barefoot tribes as well as runners. This allows for better maneuvering, think of the image of a jeep with massive suspension that goes over rocky terrain and the wheels maneuver based on the height of the surface underneath them. Feet like this also allow for all the muscles of the feet to properly function as they are given the opportunity to fully contract and relax along with the joints and ligaments taken through various ranges of motion. This can be similar to having your arm in a cast for a few weeks. Once you get out of it, your range of motion is diminished, and the elbow generally feels stiff and even sore.

cat paw

To get a better idea of this, I began looking at the feet of various animals that had incredible leaping ability and noticed that although they had the ability to splay typically for the purpose of grasping and climbing, that at rest they had relatively narrow feet as you can see below with their middle digit being the longest. This is clearly something that came about through evolution especially for predators needing to be able to outrun and out leap their prey. Of course this is a bit of a far fetched comparison as there may be many other reasons for this, from being on all fours, to very difference foot mechanics in general.

oscar pistorius

So then I thought to myself is there a human example of this, that is when I recalled watching the Paralympics and in particular the sprinters. Oscar Pistorius was an exceptional sprinter despite having two prosthetic feet from mid way in the shin down. If you look at the blades that represent his feet you notice they are relatively narrow. Some have even argued that they were advantageous as they obviously did not fatigue as well as being like a mechanical spring. Jumping back to LeBron’s foot, the blades seem to resemble those more than they resemble the feet in the first image.

So again it begs the question: Could feet that become deformed in this way be an actual advantage to the athletes? The better question is what are the biomechanical properties of feet that look like that? Firstly, they would be likely less mobile and flexible that other feet as the toes are scrunched together and the ligaments and tissue adapt to this position over time.

A study by Stefanshyn looked at university athletes and the affects of increasing the stiffness of the mid sole to decrease the mobility of the forefoot. Although the study was on a small sample size they found that when the athletes wore the stiffer shoes they recorded on avg a vertical jump height of about 0.7 inches or 1.7cm. For the average collegiate athlete that is a 2-4% increase. They found that the stiffness prevented energy loss at the mid foot thus allowing for more ground force to be exerted. Two other studies by Tinoco et al and Worobets et al showed that a shoe with a stiffer mid sole improved both sprinting and agility performance both in fresh and fatigued conditions.

So going back to the world class athletes, one could wonder whether this adaptation is actually something that may have been an adaptation to their sport or something that predisposed them to better performance in this specific scenario. Can a foot seem to be what may be categorized as dysfunctional based on appearance but actually be strong and advantageous for specific tasks? I think that definitely needs to be looked into more for a definitive answer. As for the pain that some of these athletes deal with, no one said that every adaptation will be pain free as this is a very drastic one.

Again, I believe mobile and strong feet are very beneficial, but sometimes I like to question my own way of thinking just to keep me on my toes...

Thanks for reading, Vitas

References:

Stefanyshyn, D. Benno, N. “Influence of midsole bending stiffness on joint energy and jump height performance” Med & Sci in Sports & exercise. 2000.

Tinoco, N. Bourgi, D. Morin, J. “Influence of midsole metatarsophalangeal stiffness on jumping and cutting movement abilities” J of Sports Engineering and Technology

Worobets, J. Wannop, J. “Influence of basketball shoe mass, outsole traction, and forefoot beinding stiffness on three athletic movements” J o Sports Biomechanics. 2015.

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DISCLAIMER: Any and all information on this site is intended for educational purposes. Consult your doctor or a health professional for any issues or concerns you may have as the information on this site should not be considered medical advice.

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