Region

Foot

Pes

The foot is twenty-six bones arranged into arches, sprung by the plantar fascia underneath and fine-tuned by the small intrinsic muscles in the sole. It has to be soft enough to mould to the ground on landing and stiff enough to push off — twice, every stride. People come to a therapist for the foot because of heel pain that bites on the first steps of the morning, arch ache after long standing, forefoot and big-toe pain, and the balance and toe-off problems that follow when the foot stops doing its job.