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MECHANICS OF THE ARCH OF THE FOOT

PAUL W. LAPIDUS, M.D.

Arch Surg. 1943;46(3):410-421.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

From the earliest days of anatomic knowledge the longitudinal arching of the foot has been looked on as designed to provide resilience and has been compared in its shape and function to a spring. This view is expounded in the classic textbooks of anatomy, and has been retained by more contemporary writers, as the term "spring ligament" implies.

The twenty-seventh English edition of Gray's "Anatomy" states:

The chief characteristic of this [medial longitudinal] arch is its resilience, due to its height and to the number of joints between its component parts.... It should be observed that in a normal foot the arches become flattened when erect posture is assumed and are restored when the weight of the body is taken off the feet. This resilience accounts for the suppleness of the normal foot and enhances the value of the arches by rendering possible such rapid and sudden movements as running . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
NEW YORK

From the service of Dr. Leo Mayer, Hospital for Joint Diseases and the service of Dr. J. J. Nutt, New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital.

Footnotes
Delivered in brief by invitation at the annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Association, Baltimore, June 5, 1942.

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