Strong, aligned feet can do amazing things for your health, such as provide back pain relief, improve mobility, and so much more. Our feet are the foundation of a solid, healthy, and flexible body. Just like with so many things in life, having a sturdy foundation is essential to building a powerhouse structure that can grow beyond our wildest dreams.
When we exercise, having elements that impede our feet from gripping surfaces, moving properly, or supporting us can cause major damage to our bodies. Because of this, it is important to really understand our feet and the things that can help them.
Feet in Detail
Feet are complex structures that are meant to be strong, flexible, and resilient. If you look at an anatomical image of feet, you will see a world of connections, interactions, and perfectly placed pieces. The anatomy of feet includes an intricate combination of bones, tissue, tendons, ligaments, sweat glands, and muscles. In fact, with 26 bones in each foot, the feet make up 25% of the entire skeletal structure of the body.
These bones, along with the bones found in the ankle, are joined together by a series of 33 joints and are moved by 100 muscles. The muscles, joints, and tendons work together to perform plantar flexion and dorsiflexion, or the pointing and flexing of the foot needed for motion.
Our toes, also known as the phalanges and metatarsals, make up one end of the foot, and a solid heel, or calcaneus, is found on the other end. In between these two landmarks resides a delicate arch. This arch takes on the impact of our movements and supports us while we stand. Having proper support and flexibility in the arch is essential to preventing pain and injury throughout the entire body. Furthermore, the arches, along with our achilles tendon located at the back of the heel, aid running, jumping, and walking.
Finally, feet have over 250,000 closely concentrated sweat glands. These glands can excrete around half a pint of sweat per day to help eliminate waste, cool the feet, and protect and soften the skin. The amount of sweat produced by the feet can differ from body to body or situation to situation. However, factors such as diet, exercise, and certain medical conditions can affect sweat production.
In exercise, having access to full foot mobility helps us to maintain proper foot placement and avoid injury. Whether we’re doing group classes, weight lifting, or performing cardiovascular activities, we have to be mindful of what are feet are doing. Maintaining the proper alignment of each of the foot elements is essential to keeping the entire body aligned. If the feet are not properly cared for and supported, it could be detrimental to the rest of the body.
Tucketts Approach to Feet
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Every pair of Tucketts toeless socks are uniquely designed to optimize the natural structure of the foot. When Paola R. Shah invented Tucketts her whole idea sparked from the fact that our toes only have one natural big gap between the big toe and second toe. The rest of our toes aren’t really made to have something between them. She also noted that toes are not created equal on every foot, and people have unique needs like web toes, or toes of different lengths.
It seemed as though the best option was to create an exercise sock that could support feet, not hinder them. The toe-free design of Tucketts promotes full use of each and every muscle in the feet. Also, by removing the toes from the socks it mimics the sensation of being barefoot which aids in many intricate movements. This is a design feature that can not be found in socks that cover the toes.
Lightweight knitting is another unique feature of Tucketts socks. Not only does it help with the barefoot sensation that customers love in yoga, barre, and pilates socks, but it also provides moisture wicking to prevent sweating from limiting stability during these same types of activities.
Furthermore, Tucketts socks do their part to support movement. The anklets have specific knitting in the arch to provide support during standing exercises. The knee high socks not only have the arch support similar to the anklets, but also have special knitting around the ankle to provide more compression.
Learning more about our feet is the only way to make sure we’re using them to the best of their abilities. As we continue down our fitness journey together, we’ll keep taking a closer look at our feet and all they can accomplish.
What features of the Tucketts socks make your feet the happiest? Let us know in the comments or on one of our social media pages! Be sure to tag us and use one of our favorite hashtags.
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