# How much like a hand can a foot be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735 "2003-04-10T05:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/1 "2003-04-10T05:57:57Z")
If a person doesn’t have any arms and hands, how adept could they get at using their feet to pick up things, zip and unzip zippers, button and unbutton buttons? ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/2 "2003-04-10T06:06:11Z")
I’ve read about people who could play video games with their feet. I imagine one could get pretty adept at such tasks with enough practice. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/3 "2003-04-10T06:14:00Z")
I watched a documentary once about a woman with no arms. She could do just about everything with her feet & toes. Go shopping, do dishes, etc. I imagine typing & knitting might prove a challenge, but it’s surprising just what you can do when you have to & use your feet & toes all the time. They showed her sitting in front of the kitchen sink, washing her feet & doing dishes just like they were hands. She said people would get grossed out watching here using her feet for things and her response was she probably washed her feet more often than most people wash their hands. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/4 "2003-04-10T06:17:05Z")
I watched a documentary once about a woman with no arms. She could do just about everything with her feet & toes. Go shopping, do dishes, etc. I imagine typing & knitting might prove a challenge, but it’s surprising just what you can do when you have to & use your feet & toes all the time. They showed her sitting in front of the kitchen sink, washing her feet & doing dishes just like they were hands. She said people would get grossed out watching her using her feet for things and her response was she probably washed her feet more often than most people wash their hands. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/5 "2003-04-10T06:43:06Z")
Harry Houdini could _pick locks_ with tools and wires he held in his toes! I think that gives you some idea. ---
**Author:** ![Theobroma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@Theobroma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theobroma)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/6 "2003-04-10T07:20:06Z")
I once saw a woman apply eye makeup with her feet. Very flexible, she was. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/7 "2003-04-10T10:51:05Z")
**levdrakon:** That sounds like [A Day in the Life of Bonnie Consolo](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072847) (how’s that for an informative link?). The answer to the OP’s question is: pretty darned adept. Bonnie was shown not only going grocery shopping by herself, but paying by check, which she wrote, pulled from the checkbook and handed to the clerk herself. From the writing, you’d never guess it was written by foot. She put on makeup (mascara, even), got herself dressed, and (if I recall correctly; it’s been about 25 years since I saw the film) drove without too much problem. Because she was born without arms, her feet naturally came into play as her primary reacher/grabber parts, and developed flexibility and dexterity appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/8 "2003-04-10T14:54:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \* > \*\*I’ve read about people who could play video games with their feet. I imagine one could get pretty adept at such tasks with enough practice. \*\* I used to be able to do this, with the old 8-bit Nintendo controllers. I think that the controllers for modern consoles would give me pause, though. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/9 "2003-04-10T16:45:30Z")
You mean paws? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/10 "2003-04-10T17:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \* > \*\*I’ve read about people who could play video games with their feet. I imagine one could get pretty adept at such tasks with enough practice. \*\* Back in the day, in our neighborhood pizza parlor/video arcade, there was a kid with no arms named Keith that played the video games frequently. The manager kept a few high stools with backs in the arcade for small children. Keith would get on one of these stools, drop his quarter, lean back a bit, prop his feet up on the game controls, and go to town. ---
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/11 "2003-04-10T17:54:04Z")
Maybe TMI here,but one thing they can’t do (at least in one particular armless guy’s case) was use the toilet unassisted,tho he did practically everything else a normal armed person does with his hands. One of my childhood friends was assigned the “helper” task in his schoolroom. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/12 "2003-04-10T17:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by levdrakon \* > **I watched a documentary . . . .** I saw a segment about the same woman, I think on 60 minutes maybe 20 years ago (although I did not see it twice, as you did 😉 ) One reason it was aired was that she was refused entry to a grocery store because she had bare feet. Obviously a case of brain dead adherence to rules. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/13 "2003-04-10T21:58:26Z")
According to a Houdini bio, he would amuse himself at parties by taking off his shoes and practice tying and untying knots with his toes. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/14 "2003-04-11T01:07:54Z")
In junior high we had an armless guy come in for a talk; we was playing a snare drum and the piano; the latter better than I could with his feet. There’s not much you can’t do with your toes that your hands can. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/15 "2003-04-11T02:05:16Z")
Many years ago, I saw a TV show about the [Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists](http://www.amfpa.com/navigate/herewego.phtml?lang=eng&men=news.phtml&sub=), whose members do not have the use of hands. I distinctly remember a scene in which a man born with no hands removed a cigarette paper from a pack, filled it with tobacco, rolled it into a perfectly formed cigarette, removed a wooden match from its box, and lit the cigarette, all with his feet! It was astounding. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/16 "2003-04-11T05:43:26Z")
Hands and feet are variants on the same blueprint, so there is an analog for pretty much every component of the hand in the foot, and vice versa. However, analagous does not mean completely equivalent. There is inherently more flexibility in the carpal bones of the wrist than in the tarsal bones below the ankle. More importantly, the length of the digits is longer in the hands than the feet, and fingers are much longer in comparison to the rest of the hand than toes are in comparison to the rest of the foot. As a result, the sole of the foot is pretty much useless for grasping things, a task which falls instead to the rather stubby toes, pretty much on their own. Semi-related tidbit: Pandas and their relatives do not have true opposable thumbs, and their thumb or first digit has roughly the same amount of flexibility as the 4 digits next to it. Instead, they developed an [opposable thumb-like bone](http://www.athro.com/evo/pthumb.html) in addition to their normal 5 digits, by modifying a sesamoid bone. Sesamoids are normally small bones found mostly in the tendons of hands and feet. Technically speaking, the kneecap is also a sesamoid bone. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/17 "2003-04-11T06:34:12Z")
If you’re an orangutan, there’s very little difference, if any. Thye’ve often been described as apes with 4 arms/hands. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/18 "2003-04-11T13:20:01Z")
There’s an old movie called Freaks, by Todd Browning. It has an astonishing scene where the guy with no arms and NO LEGS just slithers around the circus they’re all in. He lights a cigarette using just his mouth. Truly amazing. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-like-a-hand-can-a-foot-be/167735/19 "2003-04-11T15:34:52Z")
A little off topic…I can’t use them in any special manner, but my feet look like hands. A _lot_ like hands. I have very long toes and my big toe is almost opposable. My children will likely be arboreal.