James Earls - Understanding the Human Foot: An Illustrated Guide to Form and Function for Practitioners

Copyright 2021 by James Earls. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information, contact Lotus Publishing or North Atlantic Books.

First published in 2021 by

Lotus Publishing

Apple Tree Cottage, Inlands Road, Nutbourne, Chichester, PO18 8RJ, and

North Atlantic Books

Berkeley, California

Illustrations Amanda Williams

Photographs Rob at Lighttrapper Photography

Cover Design Chris Fulcher

Text Design Medlar Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., India

Printed and Bound in the UK by Bell and Bain Limited

Understanding the Human Foot: An Illustrated Guide to Form and Function for Practitioners is sponsored and published by North Atlantic Books, an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publishers Services. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com.

Medical Disclaimer

The following information is intended for general information purposes only. Individuals should always consult their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is his or her sole responsibility.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 913088 26 2 (Lotus Publishing)

ISBN 978 1 62317 657 0 (North Atlantic Books)

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Names: Earls, James, author.

Title: Understanding the human foot : an illustrated guide to form and function for practitioners / James Earls.

Description: Berkeley : North Atlantic Books, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: An essential resource for bodyworkers, physical therapists, and sports medicine practitioners-a vital guide to understanding the anatomy, form, and mechanics of the human foot-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021023157 (print) | LCCN 2021023158 (ebook) | ISBN 9781623176570 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781623176587 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Foot. | Foot--Physiological aspects.

Classification: LCC QM549 .E27 2021 (print) | LCC QM549 (ebook) | DDC 612.9/8--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021023157

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021023158

Closer to the Heart

Philosophers and ploughmen Each must know his part To sow a new mentality Closer to the heart

Neil Peart, 19522020

Thanks

This book has been a companion to me during the events of 2020. That long, dark year saw much change in the world, with many moments of quiet reflection, of mourning, of loss, and also many moments of hope and new possibilities. There were many stories of the power of community, the power of communication, and connection and I hope that those important lessons are retained as we re-enter the world.

Many of us realised the significance of the people around us and, just as it takes a village to raise a child, so too does it take a village to write a book.

It is with love and appreciation that I acknowledge the support given to me by Owen Lewis (who bravely suffered through early drafts), Mark Parfitt-Jones, Lauri Nemetz, and Holly Clemons, who all gave open and honest feedback.

The wonderful team from Lotus Publishing, especially Jon and Amanda, who patiently receive my constant alterations and edits, thank you!

A special thanks is reserved for Lucy Wintle, author of , who wandered into this project halfway through yet still managed to create a fantastic sequence of moves with such little guidance and so few ideas from me.

And of course, my kind, patient, and supportive wife, Liza, who manages to help guide me along the winding paths I somehow find myself on and brings me back to the light thank you for finding me.

Lastly, a request to every reader of this bookwe all have choices to make in this world, lets make good choices, lets make a better world, one that is closer to our hearts.

James Earls

London, May 2021

Thank you, dear James, for giving me the honor of adding a foreword to this excellent new publication. But this confronts me with the challenging dilemma of having planned to complete my text within a few hours, as I usually do with other foreword invitations, but now finding myself so captivated by the many brilliant chapters of this book, that I want to continue reading every single page of it, just for my own personal enjoyment and education.

Even without your invitationand beyond my high personal respect for your past contributions in our shared field of exploring the human body from a functional perspectiveI would have put this book on my personal have-to list. I certainly recommend doing so too for everyone interested in learning about the miracle of our living body. Chances are high that several times during ones lifetime one will be confronted with health conditions in the human foot, whether it is ones own feet or those of other people of importance, such as family members or patients.

If I had a few years in my future life to devote myself to studying one part of the human body, I would so far have been torn between different personal options up to recently. But after starting to delve into the exciting journey of this book, I have no doubts: there is no more fascinating part of our body than the human foot, at least when exploring it through James Earls curiosity-oriented and functional perspective!

Dear reader, please be prepared to face a similar dilemma when picking up this outstanding book. You will certainly profit thoroughly from skipping through the book, like we all do, by sporadically looking at the beautiful images and their well-written legends, as well as reading the subtitles and helpful summaries at the end of each chapter. But I promise that after doing so, this book will captivate your deeper attention, to seduce you into following the authors journey into a deeper understanding of how your body works, as seen from the most fundamental part of it.

One of the many highlights of this book, not found elsewhere in such a captivating manner, is the evolutionary perspective, how the human foot is intimately linked to the specific adaptation of our Homo sapiens ancestors to their gatherer and hunter lifestyle. Drawing on the authors extensive background as an internationally renowned bodywork and movement instructor this approach is followed up with a functional review of the musculoskeletal anatomy, in which the foot is not seen in isolation, but rather as part of several myofascial chains connecting it with the rest of the living body.