Fun Foot Facts and Records

Our feet truly are amazing! Not only do our feet make up 25% of all the bones in our body (26 bones in each foot), our feet have 250,000 sweat glands and almost 8,000 nerves. They are also responsible for some weird and wonderful world records, listed by ‘Guinness World Records’. So unless you have podophobia, or fear of feet, have fun reading about some amazing feats that some feet have achieved!

The largest foot ever belonged to Robert Wadlow of the USA (1918-1940). He was not only the tallest man that ever lived, but he had the largest foot, measuring 47cm long.

Adriana Hernandez of Mexico holds the record for the most birthday candles lit with the feet in one minute – 11! It’s hard enough to light two or three before the flame licks at your fingertips, let alone lighting 11 with your toes!

The most grapes eaten with feet in 3 minutes was 53, achieved by Arpit Lall of India. You can imagine how flexible you would need to be to achieve this!

Completing a Rubik’s Cube can be hard enough to do with your hands, but Daniel Rose-Levine from the USA managed to solve the Rubik’s Cube in 16.96 seconds … with his feet!

Jessica Cox of the USA was born without arms. In 2008, she gained her pilot’s licence and was the first woman to fly an airplane with her feet.

The record for the most consecutive tennis ball touches in 1 minute using the feet was 194 touches, achieved by Milad Mohseni from India in 2016. Maybe we should update our tennis ball exercise to incorporate some juggling and have a go at breaking this record!

The Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 was the scene for the fastest marathon run in barefeet. Abebe Bikila from Ethopia completed the 42km run in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 16 seconds.

Next time you are doing the Balancing exercise, think about Suresh Joachim who holds the record for the longest time balancing on one leg – 76 hours and 40 minutes.

Did you know our very own Foot & Leg Centre team once held their own world record for the largest human image of a foot.In 2016, we were amongst 313 people who set this record in Adelaide as part of an initiative by HYPA (Helping Young People Achieve). Unfortunately this record was broken one year later by an Indian community of 1,290 people, but we are still very proud to have played a part in official world record.

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