The Human Foot: A Companion to Clinical Studies / Edition 1

by Leslie Klenerman, N.L. Griffin, Bernard Wood

Overview

The appendages at the end of our forelimbs tend to attract the evolutionary and clinical limelight, but our feet are as important as our hands for our survival and success as a species. We tend to take them for granted, yet the many millions of modern humans who run either competitively or for recreation, or who play sports such as soccer, tennis, and badminton, or who ride, or dance, or swim, or climb, or who stand and walk as part of their work, all depend on their feet. We submit them to unreasonable loads, and expect them to survive our pounding them on hard pavements. We also add insult to injury by squeezing them into fashionable but uncomfortable footwear which does not conform to the shape of the foot. All this means that many professionals make their living caring for our feet. Worldwide many hundreds of thousands of professional people spend most of their working life looking after the foot. They include orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, diabetologists, orthotists and prosthetists, physical therapists, and podiatrists of whom there are at least 15,000 in the United States of America alone. In the English language there are two classic books about the foot, both by anatomists. In 1935 the American anatomist Dudley Morton wrote the first e- tion of The Human Foot, and in Great Britain Frederick Wood Jones’ seminal book, Structure and Function as Seen in the Foot, was published in 1944.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849969611
Publisher:	Springer London
Publication date:	11/22/2011
Edition description:	2006
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Bernard Wood

Bernard Wood is at present Professor of Human Origins at George Washington University and Adjunct Senior Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA. In 1982 he was appointed to the S.A. Courtauld Chair of Anatomy in the University of London, and in 1985 he moved to the Derby Chair of Anatomy, in the University of Liverpool. He holds the degrees of MD, PhD and DSc from the University of London.

Leslie Klenerman

Leslie Klenerman is Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery, of the University of Liverpool. Prior to moving there in 1987, from 1970 he was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and honorary research fellow at Northwick Park Hospital and the MRC Clinical Research Centre, Harrow Middlesex. With a grant from the Woolfson Foundation he started a laboratory for pedobarography there. In 1990 he was awarded the James Berrie Prize by the Royal College of Surgeons of England for his work on the foot. He has been President of both the European and British Foot Surgery Societies. Since he retired he has been an associate editor of the British Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and an associate foreign editor of Foot and Ankle International, the official journal of the American Foot and Ankle Surgery Society.

Book Publications include: The Foot and Its Disorders published by Blackwell, 3e, 1990; The Evolution of Orthopaedic Surgery published by the Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2001; with H.P.J. Walsh he edited Physical Signs in Orthopaedics published by BMJ Publishing Group, 1994; The Tourniquet Manual- Principles and Practice published by Springer 2003.

Table of Contents

Early Evolution of the Foot.- Recent Evolution of the Human Foot.- How the Foot Works.- The Development of Gait.- The Measurement of Footprints (Pedobarography).- The Foot in Action.- Amputations and Prostheses.

Editorial Reviews

3 Stars from Doody

Reviewer: Martin C. Yorath, DPM (Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science)
Description: This is a most entertaining small book is written to provide a tie-in between the evolution of the human foot to present day function and current clinical practice. In this regard, it is unique and it gives a modern approach to the classical work by Wood Jones.
Purpose: The purpose is to try to give the providers of foot and ankle care, as well as patients with pedal problems, some perspective about the 26 bones at the end of their lower extremities. As the authors suggest, there are more definitive texts regarding foot structure and evolution, but aimed at a narrower audience. This book has wide appeal and is needed to address the growing foot and ankle sector in the healthcare market. It is well written in this regard.
Audience: Although the authors state that they want the book to appeal to both providers and consumers of foot and ankle care, it would probably have limited appeal to the latter audience. Dr. Klenerman is a well respected and published orthopedic surgeon on the subject of the foot and ankle. Dr. Wood is a paleoanthropologist as well as a medical physician.
Features: The book starts out with a most useful overview of evolution of the human foot, then proceeds to cover basic foot function and gait development. These latter areas are briefly covered and will not impart very much new information to most foot and ankle providers, but they would be useful to the lay reader. There is a useful chapter on pedobarography, followed by an interesting chapter on the foot in action, including the more usual sporting events as well as the more unusual activities such as fire walking! Each chapter is well referenced, using classic as well as more recent works. The book is quite well illustrated with line drawings and graphs as needed. However, some of the diagrams are a little small; some more photographic material would have been more useful.
Assessment: This is an interesting book, although some may argue not essential. My personal belief is that any comprehensive provider of the foot and ankle should have at least a fundamental grasp of the evolution of the human foot. There are few books available which provide a concise summary of such material, and if for no other reason, this book should be in the library for such reference.

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews of the first edition:

"This book is the offshoot of a collaboration between an orthopaedic surgeon and an anatomist/palaeoanthropologist. … The Human Foot is a nicely written book with 85 figures to illustrate the text. This book is intended for orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists, sports scientists and to anyone who wants to have an original look at the foot that is quite an intriguing structure!" (M. Mousny, Acta Orthopaedica Belgica, Vol. 72 (4), 2006)

"The authors of this text have produced a first class overview of the evolution and function of the human foot. … This work lives up to its billing and makes a worthy companion to clinical studies. It is well illustrated, well referenced, concise and readable. Highly recommended." (Matthew Solan, The Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine, Vol. 28 (2), 2006)

From the Publisher