The human foot : its form and structure functions and clothing / by Thomas S. Ellis.

  • Ellis, Thomas S.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human foot : its form and structure functions and clothing / by Thomas S. Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    The presumption is that in a structure so perfect as the foot no change of level in the sole at any part is desirable. The onus of proof, then, that heels are required rests with those who advocate them ; it is not necessary to prove the nega- tive. I may however point out that if, as I contend, the movement incidental to change of position is the agency by which the arch of the foot is maintained, then that move- ment should be free. If the heel is to be vigorously raised, it must be allowed to go down as a preliminary to springing up. And in direct proportion as the heel is high this going down is prevented. The raising of the heel does not necessarily tend to destruction of the arch of the foot. We see sensational pictures of a bridge with one of its abutments uplifted and the stones falling out of place as indicative of the injury done by high heels. This is not true to nature : the arch is not only just as strong when the heel is raised as when the foot is flat, but, when raised by the action of muscles, it is even stronger. The evils really due to high, heels in boots are these— First, the heel of the foot is prevented from going down, the necessary preliminary to springing up, which is the most important movement from a functional point of view. Secondly, the foot rests on an inclined plane, and there is a constant tendency to slide forwards, driving the toes like a wedge into the front part of the boot. In this position the toes cannot move comfortably, and the tendency is for them to remain quiescent, and all the weight of the body to fall plump on the joint at the root of the great toe, to its damage, with all the train of evils, therefrom resulting, which have been detailed. High heels are supposed to be an elegance derived from the French, who are credited with a taste superior to our