Monkey Feet

Recent reports throughout the internet have published information relating Money Feet to present day humans. Here is a portion of one such article.........

"Have you ever felt like walking on the ground is a fine way to get from point A to point B, but not really your thing? Can you identify a good climbing tree from a hundred paces? If so, you may have a condition known to medicine as “monkey feet.”* Don’t be embarrassed, though —according to some recent studies, as many as 1 in 13 people around the world may have feet that didn’t get the evolutionary memo about ground-based, bipedal locomotion and remain well-equipped for clambering up a tree at a moment’s notice. 

It’s commonly accepted that humans have pretty rigid feet, suited for covering long distances over mostly flat terrain. A recent study from researchers at Boston University, though, calls that notion into question. Reporting their results in the journal Physical Anthropology, Jeremy DeSilva and Simone Gill found that of 400 subjects they studied, 8% had a level of flexibility in the middle of their feet that resembles the flexibility found in apes. A soon to be published study from the University of Liverpool backs up that data, New Scientist reports.

To determine if you’ve got a flexible foot, take a look at your midfoot between the ball and heel. Most people have a hard ligament running there that keeps the foot nice and rigid for enjoying long walks on the beach, or savannah, if your prefer. If you have a softer ligament there, though, you might see more flexibility in the foot — a sure sign of “monkey feet.”"

It is unfortunate that the researchers did not contact a Chiropodist/Podiatrist before releasing this information as these foot types have long been known throughout the profession and commonly seen in our offices. Future collaboration between professions would likely yield more thourough data.