Foot Binding

I recently came across a post from a fellow podiatrist's blog.  In the post he shows some fascinating pictures by a famous British photographer Jo Farrell.  The photographer was able to track down the last living survivors of foot-binding in rural China.   Foot binding, the inhumane practice of severely altering the shape of young girls feet, was widely practiced because small, misshapen feet were viewed as a sign of wealth, marriage eligibility, and even erotic. Even after the practice was banned in the early 1900s, many rural women continued to secretly bind their daughters’ feet.

Here  is some concrete evidence of what happens when our feet are confined to a tight shoe for extended periods. By not using the intrinsic musculature of our feet, the muscles atrophy and do not stabilize the joints of the toes and foot. Over time the foot will become narrow and adapt to the shape of the shoe. We can use the following analogy when a leg is in a cast  for an extended period of time and the muscles are weekend (atrophied) after removing the cast. 

So think twice before keeping your feet confined in those tight and narrow shoes. This applies to the men reading this as well!