Growing
old has its benefits but it also has some negatives and lately it seems I have
had my fair share. Over the past few days I have become increasing
thankful for my feet! They are a wonderful part of our amazing physical bodies
and they get little or no attention. Actually most people prefer not to
talk about, see or feel feet and that is perfectly understandable. They
carry a persons weight around all day, they look funny, they are ticklish, and
they can smell pretty bad!! Feet work long hard hours and rarely if ever get
pampered, unless one lives in Thailand like I do. But most of the population
taking care of ones feet is the last thing on their “to do” list.
Did
you know that your foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, more than 100 tendons,
muscles, and ligaments, and a whopping 250,000 sweat glands? Here is another random
fact: the 14 bones of the toes are among the smallest in the human body!
Okay
now for those TOES...they do two very important things for us. Firstly, the
toes, especially the big toe, help us balance. To test this, try standing on
one foot with none of your toes touching the ground. After a while, relax your
toes and let them touch the ground again. I'll bet balancing on one foot is a
lot easier using your toes!
The
second thing toes do for us is to help propel us forward while we are walking
or running. The toes give that last little push off. (If you've ever walked in
ski boots you know how difficult it is to go very fast when your toes can't
bend at the end of your step.) Okay now I know why I couldn’t run in my ski
boots – the one and only time I hit the slopes!
So why talk about
feet and toes. Well because I am
grateful for what they can do. It has
been four days since I had surgery on my right foot. My doctors had to removed my swollen and
enlarged bursa sack, shave off a bunionette and had to break my 5th
metatarsal and realign it a screw to my baby toe! And now I am off my foot for 6 weeks. Literally, I have to stay off my foot, no
weight bearing on it at all. I have a
set of crutches upstairs; a walker (like what older people use to walk) downstairs
and today I resorted to sitting in a rolling office desk chair to get around
faster!! Going for a walk, a run or a hike is totally out of the
question...heck I can’t even swim right now.
So my mind and body are frustrated and I am learning to be profoundly
grateful for my FEET! 