Fun Facts on Walking

  

Side Walk!
Walking sideways burns 78 percent more calories than walking forward. Lateral motion takes extra effort by putting your body to work in unfamiliar ways.

Don’t be a statistic!
Twenty-five percent of people who start an exercise program quit the first week. Another 25% quit within the first six months.

Roughing it!
Walking on a rough but level track requires 50% more energy than walking on a paved road.

In The Fast Lane! Do you know how fast you are walking?
To get a close estimate, count the number of steps you take in one minute and divide by 30. For an example, if you take 120 steps you would be walking about 4 m.p.h.

Man’s and Woman’s Best Friend
Does your dog insist you take her (or him) for a walk? Look for a retractable leash. It can help free up your arms so you can keep pumping them, and that will help you get as much or more benefit from your walk as Fefe (or Fido)!

More fun facts can be found at walkingconnection.com

Growth of Toenails

Compared with fingernails, toenails grow much more slowly — about 1 mm per month, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, whereas fingernails grow an average of 0.1 mm a day. It takes at least five to six months to grow an entirely new toenail. 

How long can toenails grow? The current record holder for the longest toenails is Louise Hollis of Compton, Calif., who set the record back in 1991. Hollis boasts 6-inch-long nails on each toe, and according to Guinness World Records, she's been growing her toenails since 1982. Understandably, she wears only open-toed shoes.

Your toenails also hold all kinds of clues to your overall health, including whether you're anemic (spoon-shaped indentations) or have poor blood circulation (hairless toes) orpsoriasis (pits in the nail surface).

Dr. David Tsui - Feet Facts

Dr. David Tsui - Feet Facts:

Your feet do so much for you, but how much do you really know about them? We have put together a list of feet facts that you might find useful and interesting.

• When walking, each time your heel lifts off the ground it forces the toes to carry one half of your body weight.
• It’s rare that two feet are exactly the same; one of them is often larger than the other.
• In a pair of feet, there are 250,000 sweat glands.
• Cigarette smoking is the biggest cause of Peripheral Vascular Disease (disease of the arteries of the feet and legs) which often leads to pain on walking, ulceration, infection and in the most severe cases – gangrene and possible amputation.
• A human foot & ankle is a strong, mechanical structure that contain 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons & ligaments.
• During an average day of walking, the total forces on your feet can total hundreds of tons, equivalent to an average of a fully loaded cement truck.
• Walking is the best exercise for your feet. It contributes to your general health by improving circulation and weight control.
• 75% of Americans will experience foot problems at one time or another in their lives.
• The average person will walk around 115,000 miles in a life time, that’s more than four times around the earth! The average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, which adds up to about 115,000 miles over a lifetime.
• 1/4 of all the bones in the human body are down in your feet. When these bones are out of alignment, so is the rest of the body.
• Women have about four times as many foot problems as men. High heels are partly to blame.
• Walking barefoot can cause plantar warts. The virus enters through a cut.
• The record for the world’s largest feet belongs to Matthew McGrory who wears US size 28 1/2 shoes. The average men’s size is 10 1/2.
• Fingernails and toenails grow faster during hot weather, pregnancy and teenage years.
• The feet can contract an array of nasty diseases from communal showers: Planter Wart, Athletes foot, Ring worm!

To read more interesting foot facts, visit www.foot.com/site/professional/foot-facts.