'...forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross...'

A Catholic doctor, whom I esteem highly, forwarded the e-mail that I re-produce in full here. I do not know who wrote the e-mail entitled 'The Scientific Death of Jesus', but I admire their sincerity-in-faith and spirit of evangelisation.
 

60 seconds with God...For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you're doing and take this opportunity!  Let's see if satan can stop this.

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty. 

At the time, crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus. Unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet. Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrists...not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.

The image above is available in a better format at: 

http://media.mercola.com/ImageServer/public/2009/April/crucifixion_wrists.jpg

The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendons would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breath. Both of His feet were nailed together.  Thus, He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.  Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breath.  Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage. Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.            

Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.  He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side.  But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body?  A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.   But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten.  The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.  The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.  The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.  Most men would not have survived this torture.  

 
He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.

Jesus lost all 3.5 liters of his blood. He had three nails hammered into his members, a crown of  thorns on his head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into his chest.

All this - without mentioning the humiliation. He passed after carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones. (The cross was almost 30 kilograms of weight.) He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward to others because you are worried of what they may think about you.