Plantigrade

In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground.

The leg of a digitigrade mammal also includes the metatarsals/metacarpals, the bones that in a human compose the arch of the foot and the palm of the hand.

With more bones and joints in the foot, the leg is both shorter and heavier at the far end, which makes it difficult to move rapidly.

In humans and other great apes, another possible advantage of a plantigrade foot is that it may enhance fighting performance by providing a more powerful stance for striking and grappling.

Hypertonicity, spasticity, clonus, limited range of motion, abnormal flexion neural pattern, and a plantar flexor (calf) muscle contracture, as well as some forms of footwear such as high heeled shoes may contribute to an individual only standing and/or walking on their toes.