Overlooked arch in the foot is key to its evolution and function

A long-overlooked part of the human foot is key to how the foot works, how it evolved, and how we walk and run, a Yale-led team of researchers said. The discovery upends nearly a century of conventional thinking about the human foot and could open new avenues to explore in evolutionary biology as well as guide new designs for robotic and prosthetic feet, said the study team. The discovery, made by an international team of researchers and led by Yale engineer Madhusudhan Venkadesan , was published Feb. The team was led jointly by Venkadesan, Shreyas Mandre from the University of Warwick, and Mahesh Bandi from the Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology (OIST). When humans walk and run , the front of each foot repeatedly pushes on the ground with a force exceeding several times the body's weight. Despite these strong forces, the human foot maintains its shape without severely bending. Such stiff feet - unique to humans among primates - were important for the evolution of bipedalism.