Toes are hassled a lot. The ball of your foot bears a great deal of your weight while standing and is used like a hinge every time you take a step. This movement, between the metatarsals and the toes (the MTP joint) is called extension. Flexion is when you grip your parakeet perch with your toes or pick up Fritos from the floor.
The fantastic illustration below is from the wonderful Thieme people... you can preview their combined Atlas of Anatomy at www.winkingskull.com, and then buy it at amazon. It is very reasonably priced and I think it's the best anatomy text out there. It certainly kicks Netter's butt. (It is most definitely NOT Thieme's illustration above, that's my own ridiculous attempt of combining photography and illustration.)
So, walking moves your MTP joints through a neutral (or flat) position to extension, but not through flexion. As a result, your feet get a lot more practice with MTP extension than with flexion. With time and neglect, many feet begin to show MTP extension even when there is no weight on them - yikes! And that, little one, is the beginning of hammer toes.
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