 There’s a lot going on in runners’ feet. Each one is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Of those, maybe you spend a lot of time stressing about your plantar fascia. Maybe tendonitis is your literal Achilles heel. Or maybe you spend too many runs worrying about what color your toenails will be at the end. But how much brain space do you dedicate to your big toe, specifically? We ask because it deserves your attention.
A quick anatomy lesson: Your big toe, a.k.a. the hallux, consists of two joints—the interphalangeal joint (which is up by your nail), and the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint, which connects the first long bone (metatarsal) in the forefoot to the first bone of the big toe (phalanx). The MTP joint is the important one for runners, because it needs to bend with every step you take—and if it isn’t doing that correctly, it could inhibit your performance. |
There’s a lot going on in runners’ feet. Each one is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Of those, maybe you spend a lot of time stressing about your plantar fascia. Maybe tendonitis is your literal Achilles heel. Or maybe you spend too many runs worrying about what color your toenails will be at the end. But how much brain space do you dedicate to your big toe, specifically? We ask because it deserves your attention.
A quick anatomy lesson: Your big toe, a.k.a. the hallux, consists of two joints—the interphalangeal joint (which is up by your nail), and the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint, which connects the first long bone (metatarsal) in the forefoot to the first bone of the big toe (phalanx). The MTP joint is the important one for runners, because it needs to bend with every step you take—and if it isn’t doing that correctly, it could inhibit your performance. |
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