The foot is a complex area. For the sake of understanding we can divide it into forefoot, mid foot and hindfoot. This division is very artificial as the whole human body is a chain and all the body parts interact with each other all the time.

The hind foot mainly consists of the talus and calcaneum. The main condition that we deal with in day to day life involving the hind foot is plantar fasciitis. We won’t be discussing the biomechanics of the foot and ankle in details here but what we need to take about a bit is the prime function of the foot i.e. walking. The foot can be considered to have a 3 point pivot in gait. The three pivots are the heel, the ankle joint and the 1st MTP joint. The heel helps swing the foot from a heel strike to foot flat. The ankle helps the tibia to move forward on the foot (talus) from initial contact to mid stance and pre-swing. Finally the heel off and toe off would not be possible without flexion of the 1st MTP joint which uses the windlass mechanism to allow a smooth push off.

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