Footnotes.

Abstract

The medical school curricula raced past feet. Sure, we memorized the names of all 26 bones and prepared for the identifier pin placed in any of the 100 muscles, ligaments, or tendons on our anatomy exams. Compared to vital knowledge like cardiac anatomy and liver function, feet were approached as an afterthought. As parenthetical references in tiny font, footnotes represent a nonessential nature and are relegated toward a document's end. Footnotes depict background information and reflect what is “outside” of the core text. For many years, feet were parenthetical and peripheral in my milieu of medical knowledge.