The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The foundation of the body: The foot. The human foot consists of 19 muscles, 26 bones, 33 joints, and hundreds of ligaments and tendons. That is all in one foot! Each day, we stick little coffins, more commonly known as shoes, on these complex body parts: Snowboots, high heels, tennis shoes with orthotics, and more. We don't give our feet much thought unless they start to hurt.

As we age, feet are the first body part that loses function. We take care of our bodies with diet, exercise, soap, makeup and more, but very often neglect our feet.

When we do foot stretches and mobility at the gym, the...