The foot is a masterpiece of engineering. Each foot has 26 bones, 100’s of ligaments, muscles and tendons. Most of these components have to function with each other in a very precise way so that we can easily walk, run and perform a whole variety of activities. The foot is a finely tuned biomechanical work of art as it must co-ordinate all of the anatomical structures in order that it can function properly and without problems to undertake those actions. The foot did evolve to acquire those functions on a soft surface rather than wearing footwear, so a few flaws probably crept in as feet was put into footwear and was forced to walk and run on the hard cement surfaces. Small imperfections which were not previously a problem started to show up in those shoes and on those hard ground. It is this which is responsible for so many of the conditions that health professionals see in the foot these days.

For example, one of those issues is a idea referred to as supination resistance. This is thought of as the force that is needed to lift the arch of the foot. In the event that force is higher, then the muscles and tendons must work harder and the ligaments have much more strain on them. This might lead to pain in those structures and the development of a progressive flat foot. If that force is large, running and walking also needs more effort and can be very tireing. If that supination resistance force is too low, then it will probably be very easy to raise the arch of the foot. This could result in more ankle sprains as it's so easy to tip the foot over to cause that. From this it ought to be obvious that a fine balance is required between too high and too low amounts of force which is a good illustration of precisely what an engineering miracle the foot is and just how easy it is for something to go wrong.