DR RICHARD AYAH: Toes, the short members with a big job

A person with a weak handshake is likely to have weak toes. This means they may be having trouble walking and balancing

by DR RICHARD AYAH

Health20 March 2025 - 19:50

In Summary

When you next shake someone’s hand, note the grip and strength of the handshake. How firm it is, is often a reflection of their general health.

If you have short toes, you will not make a good non-digital thief. You will be caught. Let me explain.

The amount of time you spend thinking about your toes is dependent on several factors. Age is a major factor. Babies, before they can sit and walk, are fascinated by their toes.

Once they learn to focus their big eyes, and in the periods when they are not in gazing lovingly at their mothers, their toes become a fascinating part of their body. It helps that they are very flexible at this age, able to grab their foot and suck on their toes.

At the other extreme of age, there reaches a time when the feet seem so far away. Especially for elderly men who still insist on wearing socks and shoes with laces, reaching the feet requires planning.

Find a place, the right chair, or part of the bed that is low enough, but also firm. That specific spot will have been discovered by trial and error over many days prior. Identify the shoes to be worn, having ensured that they are clean, place the shoes, both shoes, within arm’s reach.

Have favourite socks, not always clean, within sight, and not behind on the bed, where sitting on bed will make them roll away out of reach. Then begin operation socks and shoes. Two methods work. In one, there is an attempt to raise the leg, place the ankle across the other knee and put on the sock and then shoe.

The other method is with heel firmly on the floor attempt to raise the toes to an angle enough to slowly swallow the toe. This can take minutes and is not to be done in a hurry. In either case, there is time to look at the toes, the hardened discoloured nails and wonder what is growing there?

Another factor is sex. Many women, whether they can afford it or not, spend time scrubbing and painting their nails. Pedicure is language women learn early compared to men. At this point you will notice that the relationship between you and your toes is personal and private. Yet toes are such a key part of the human anatomy, they deserve a little bit more attention.

Toes are part of the forefoot, which consists of the toes and metatarsals bones. Each toe has three phalanges or bones, except the big toe, which has two phalanges. This adds up to 14 toe bones in each foot. The human body has 206 bones, so the two sets of toes make up That makes 28 bones in the two sets of toes.

For comparison the human skull has 22 bones. The toe part of the foot is extremely short relative to body mass of humans. Yet it has a big job. The toes provide balance and support when you walk and run. For example, when you are walking the toes are in contact with the ground 75% of the time. When running, the toes are even more critical, increasing the length of the foot to increase the propulsion force. So, people with longer toes can usually run faster than those with short toes. If your life goal is to be a thief, measure your toes first.

Or since you do not know the toe length of the person who will chase you, be a good citizen. So, what does it mean when someone tells you to toe the line? Often it is a threat, but the focus should be to agree on the line, not the toes.

In politics, the role of the opposition is to keep in check the excesses of government. We expect government to work, according to the plan they have presented, but we know that some humans have an ethical problem keeping their promises.

Furthermore, systems created by humans always have flaws, which means that even the best system created will have unintended consequences. In health, unintended consequences means people dying and suffering when they should not have.

So public health policy and execution needs to be deliberate and well thought out. Because health consists of an interaction between the human being and the environment, a health solution that works in an environment a thousand kilometres away cannot be imported wholesale and be expected to work as well. The environment, which consists of the society, physical and climate will be different. That is why good health needs the health experts, together with an engaged population agreeing on what needs to be done. Once what needs to be done is agreed, then the lines become clear, and it is easy to see where the toes should be.

But, and there is always a but. There is one factor that explains toes that we have not discussed. It is partly genetics, partly the kind of shoes you wear. When you get the chance to look at other people’s feet you notice that often they do not look as nice as yours. Some people have wide-set toes. So much space between each toe. Others, the big toe is far apart from the other toes, which are crammed together in a mess of a foot, in need of affordable housing. Then there those with warrior toes, each toe long and assertive. The type of toes you have is a gift of your genes. Some people ascribe personality traits to toe structure, in an attempt to explain why some people, behave the way they do.

But here is some easy science. When you next shake someone’s hand, note the grip and strength of the handshake. How firm it is, is often a reflection of their general health. The person with a weak handshake, is likely to have weak toes too. Which means, they may be having trouble walking and balancing. So, you do not have to go toe to toe with someone to discover how healthy they are. A handshake is enough.