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As a tall person, my hands and feet are almost always bigger than those of shorter people who share a similar build. But why is this, why do taller people have bigger feet and hands?. Is there a simple explanation and if so, are there any benefits or evolutionary reason for behind this?
Because I am tall and find this quite an interesting topic, I am going to give my perspective on the issue as well as offer some anecdotal comments on height and height differences. Not to mention that I get asked this question every time I step out my front door. I’ve found feet size or shoe size is a popular question to ask tall people.
Let me also preface this by saying that, resolutely, that height, hand size, and foot size, are genetic and for the most part uncontrollable – thus should not be something to make fun of under any circumstance.
So How Come A Tall Person Has Larger Feet?
Traditionally speaking, the relationship between height and hand/foot size is a linear one. This is because skeletons are generally proportional in size. So, the bigger your skeleton, the bigger the bones in the hands and feet. This makes sense.
Bigger individuals have bigger extremities. Furthermore, there is also a trend between men being taller and having bigger hands and feet than women. Go on, sneak out and compare your hand size to your sister’s hand or your Wife’s hand. Chances are your hands are bigger if you’re a male.
Everything Tall Needs A Sturdy Foundation
Like with all trends and observations, however, there are outliers as well. From a physics perspective, it makes sense for taller people to have bigger feet, as they have more mass to hold and balance upright. Thus, having a bigger platform to do so from (the feet) makes perfect sense.
This is the most likely reason why tall people have bigger feet and hands than shorter people. The feet are what keeps us upright and the taller you are the longer the platform (feet) need to be to increases balance and stability. Which leads me to wonder though, are there any benefits to having larger feet and hands?
The Benefits Of Height
First, I will go over some of the benefits of just being tall, then I will discuss the benefits of bigger hands and feet. Being tall, in general, means a faster metabolism – which means that you can eat more food without getting fat. Who doesn’t want that?.
But like all things in life, with the good comes the bad. Tall people have greater specific health problems than someone shorter than themselves. Including a higher chance of cancer which is a little frightening.
But to brighten the mood a little, financially us tall people are naturally gifted. According to recent studies, taller people also make more money on average – about $800 per inch over the average height. Isn’t that crazy? Being tall also means that in crowds, like a sports games or concerts, I can always see over everyone.
Being a tall woman means that you don’t to wear heels to every event, which is awesome, because they are super uncomfortable. Rather, I have enough natural height to get away with wearing flats. But lets not go too deep down the rabbit hole, we all know how hard it is to buy yoga pants for taller women right.
Finally, I can always reach things in my cupboards and never need to ask for help or get a step stool. If this applies to you as well, make sure you always lend a helping hand to your shorter friends.
Benefits Of Having Bigger Feet
While the benefits of being tall are quite obvious, there are also a ton of benefits to having big feet as a result of being tall – some of which you may never have even thought of.
Having big feet means that when you buy shoes, you get more for your money. Usually, shoes cost the same regardless of size, so the bigger your shoe size, the more product you are getting for the same price. I bet none has thought about shoes like this before.
You are also less likely to have people borrowing your shoes, as it is likely that more than a few of your friends will share a bigger shoe size. In general, bigger feet is equated to better athleticism, as a bigger foot is often equated with a more powerful kick. This is especially true in sports like soccer, football, or rugby. Finally, big feet keep you on the ground more balanced and more firmly than smaller foot counterparts.
Larger Hands Are Handy For The Tall Person
Chances are if you’re over 6 foot you probably have larger than regular sized feet and bigger hands to suit. I have quite large hands and I find them very useful on most occasions, but there are certainly drawbacks like typing on a mobile phone or keyboard. However there are also many benefits to having large hands as well as large feet.
For instance, holding bigger items or drinks for a long period of time is barely noticeable. It also adds to your athleticism for hand-related things. This is especially true of the front crawl, or any sport that involves throwing something.
Stronger Hands & Grip
It can help tremendously with your prowess in fighting disciplines as well, or just general self defense. In general, big hands will also provide you with an overall stronger grip, which is beneficial in pretty much all aspects of life.
A stronger grip can be a big asset in climbing sports, martial arts, or even just physical labor where you need to be able to have an incredibly good grip on something to get it to turn. Same goes for swinging a golf club. You need a good grip, especially as a taller person that needs a XL golf club to reach full your potential.
Does The Size Of Your Feet Really Matter?
Your feet are designed the way they are to provide your individual body with the support they need. So yes, the size of your feet matter when you think of it like this.
But in terms of appearance, no it doesn’t matter at all. Sure I get called clown feet on the occasion, but I’m stronger than that and have learned to ignore these types of comments.
When you’re a youngster I can see why your parents show interest in the size of your feet. This is because they want to have a rough idea about how tall you will grow during puberty into a fully grown adult.
The smart folks say that its a 6.6 to 1 ratio. What this means is that for every inch of foot you have, you should have roughly 6.6″ of height. So a ten inch foot would equate to a person that is 66 inches tall, roughly. With research like this, forensics are able to guesstimate the height of an unknown person simply by measuring their footprint.
On Average Tall People Have Larger Feet
Overall, yes I would say taller people have bigger hands and feet than people shorter than themselves. This is due, basically, to a bigger proportional skeleton. Skeletons and human frames grow in proportion to one another, so it makes sense that a taller person would have bigger hands and feet.
It also makes sense from a physics standpoint as it requires more effort to keep a tall person anchored and balanced. However big feet help tall people run faster because there is more surface area in contact with the ground.
Obviously, there will be outliers for this observation as well as others, but this is essentially a pretty unanimous trend between height differences world wide. There are also gender differences, as men tend to be larger than women in most respects, at least on average. As I stated previously, however, there are outliers and exceptions to this rule.
Given all this, it is obvious that tall people have several physical advantages over shorter people and that men are bigger than women, on average. These are both based on trends, however, so do not take everything said here as indisputable fact because there are exceptions as always.
