The foot

Of the 206 bones in the human body, half can be found in the hands and feet.  You can imagine with the amount of mobility and range of motion needed to walk, jump, shift weight in our feet, and to type, snap, make fists.... there are numerous joints supported by ligaments and fascia that help to keep all of these mobile and, hopefully, injury free. 

There are 26 bones in the foot and for dancers, we are grateful for all of them!  They enable us to:

• flex, extend, and hyperextend (and bear weight like into releve) the toes
• abduct, adduct the tarsus and go through points of inversion and eversion 
• plantar flex and dorsiflex the ankle 

Take a look at those 26 bones:

And the muscles that support movement: 



Dorrie -- Take a look at the inferior extensor retinaculum across the superior portion of the foot below the lateral and medial malleolus.... I think this is what you were asking about in class today!

Give yourself a mini foot massage this evening and try to identify the mobility of each joint action.