# Evolution and the physics of human feet (re feet width) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241 "2017-10-18T17:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/21 "2017-10-19T05:48:36Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > Man-brain no compute. Please provide simple translation! šŸ˜‰ Bad shoes, no support,foot got flatter, new shoes fixed it ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/22 "2017-10-19T05:58:00Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > The decreased weight of a smaller hoof is negligible in the total weight involved. > The over-exaggeration seems to be a human trait ā€“ if a little bit is good, a whole lot more is better. > In horse showing, a lot of this happens because the big breeders start emphasizing some trait, and the judges in shows start rewarding that. (And a lot of the big breeders are judges themself.) > > Not in racing, where every bit of extra weight is eliminated. Sometimes unbalanced weight is added to correct gait problems. Like a horse with a too narrow gait might have shoes with more weight to one side, to make them step a normal width and prevent interfering. This is called corrective shoeing. > > Weight is added in Saddlebred, Hackney, & similar breeds to get emphasized high knee action. Thatā€™s supposed to be a natural trait of the breed, but if your horse doesnā€™t have so much of it bred in, extra weight in the shoes can imitate it. Thank you for your thouroughful answer to my questions! I may have misunderstood some of the terms (not to mention the translation problem ā€“ I mostly rely on Wikipedia/Wiktionary when it comes to terminology! ā€“ ) commonly used among horse-people (to which I do not truly belong, although I really like horses and used to ride a bit when I was younger!), but I think I get most of what you say! ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/23 "2017-10-19T06:18:05Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Bad shoes, no support,foot got flatter, new shoes fixed it Man-brain simplify answer: lack of distorting footwear == no distorted feet (but see last of post #20!) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/24 "2017-10-19T11:04:02Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > This post is about the width of feet or EE/ EEE on shoe sizes. > > Going by shoe sales, it seems like the median human feet width is D and not the wide sizes. D being median is a feature of menā€™s shoes. Womenā€™s median (what manufacturerā€™s deem it, anyway) is a B. Personally, I donā€™t think this is because women actually have proportionally narrower feet but because fashion/society has decreed that women SHOULD have proportionally smaller feet and convinced them to cram their feet into shoes that are too small/narrowā€¦ which is why women are more prone to foot problems than men. Itā€™s not because of physical structure, itā€™s because they arenā€™t wearing the right size shoes. Also, as people age their feet get wider. This is particularly true of women, because pregnancy hormonesā€™s effects on tendons result in the feet becoming wider, but even if a person never gets pregnant, and for men, too, over time the feet get wider. Personally, when I was a young woman I wore a D. Iā€™m now a EE. Effectively, this means I canā€™t wear fashionable shoes because they donā€™t make them that wide for women. I can never buy shoes on sale because most stores donā€™t even stock my size anymore. I buy shoes off the internet at full price, but at least I get shoes that fit. And my feet are healthier than if I had worn high heels all those years. > [@](#): > > Would physics prefer humans to have wider feet to give more traction while running ? is the median shift to a D width more recent evolution or did the oldest homo-sapiens have the same feet width median ? I canā€™t answer the physics question, but I think the move to D width is more a feature of people finally wearing shoes that fit properly more than some evolutionary/biological change. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/25 "2017-10-19T11:21:11Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Are hands and feet related? (Tiny hands meansā€¦ tiny feet?) Perhaps thereā€™s a cross-linked gene in there. Yes, developmentally hands and feet are related. Someone more versed in genetics and embryonic development could probably explain it better, but many of the same mechanisms that control the development of hands also control the development of feet. Obviously, the ā€œprogramā€ isnā€™t identical but there is a relationship there. People with long thin hands will also have long, thin feet. People with short, broad hands will also have short broad feet. > [@bob\_2](#): > > It may just be a racial characteristic, but when my father was in the Army in Sierra Leone, they had to have extra large boots made for the native soldiers; most of whom had been barefoot all their lives. In other words, the feet of the natives werenā€™t compressed over a lifetime by wearing shoes. A LOT of people wear shoes that are too small and think thatā€™s ā€œnormalā€ where if they didnā€™t wear shoes their feet would be wider, because thatā€™s the natural width of their foot. See **Beckdawrekā€™s** posts. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I wore the dreaded crocs for a couple of years, ease in chasing after a lilā€™wrekker, And I came out with wider foot. It has since returned to my normal width with the wearing of cross trainers. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Bad shoes, no support,foot got flatter, new shoes fixed it People feet donā€™t naturally need support. They need support because what we do to them over a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/26 "2017-10-19T21:38:37Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > D being median is a feature of menā€™s shoes. > > ā€¦ > > Also, as people age their feet get wider. This is particularly true of women, because pregnancy hormonesā€™s effects on tendons result in the feet becoming wider, but even if a person never gets pregnant, and for men, too, over time the feet get wider. When I bought a pair of shoes that actually had the width shown on them, they were ā€œEEEā€. I think that is reasonably common in NZ, that shoes are wider than elsewhere. A pair I bought in UK I had to get a size bigger to get them wide enough for me. I think itā€™s because we (NZers) spend so much of our childhood barefooted and that even carries into adulthood. Much more so than UK/Europe/North America. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241/27 "2017-10-19T22:55:57Z")
Humans didnā€™t evolve to just run fast, or to run only in a straight line. Feet are also adapted to climbing and walking, running down animals that are going to change direction and dodge to get away, plus running away from animals that are running humans down. Since thereā€™s plenty of variation in foot size Iā€™m pretty confident our ancestors wouldnā€™t have had any significant benefit from being much wider than the range of width we see them in now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-and-the-physics-of-human-feet-re-feet-width/799241.md?page=1)