1 in 13 People Have Bendy, Monkey-like Feet

A new statistical analysis of the bone structure of human feet has revealed something rather primitive: one in 13 humans have super-flexible, monkey-like feet.

Compared to primates, the feet of humans are rigid; the sturdiness of our feet enables us to walk upright more efficiently, whereas the bendy feet of apes are better suited for gripping limbs of trees.

But some of us may walk among them, or at least like them.

Boston University researchers Jeremy DeSilva and Simone Gill analyzed the feet of 400 adults, asking them to walk barefoot while being filmed. They found that eight percent of the people observed presented characteristics of bendability halfway between the heel and the ball of the foot, a feature known in monkeys as a midtarsal break. People with midtarsal breaks were found to have flatter feet overall, according to the abstract of the study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

The find was of great scientific interest to DeSalva, but he said the participants with midtarsal breaks seemed entirely unaware of their special feet.

"I was, and continue to be, surprised by this," he said, according to New Scientist.

The news site reported that DeSalva's findings are corroborated by a soon-to-be published study by Robin Crompton which found that midtarsal breaks in human feet may be even more common than what DeSalva's study suggests.

As to why humans are being observed with monkey-like feet so long after the evolutionary split?

"My guess is that we are getting more variation than ever before, perhaps because shoes have impacted foot anatomy," DeSalvia said.