Humans Are Bad At Running

February 13th, 2010

A University of Utah study that was designed mostly to study back pain, turned out some interesting results involving the human foot as it relates to walking, running, and even fighting.

The study conducted by: Christopher Cunningham, a doctoral student in biology at the University of Utah; Nadja Schilling, a zoologist at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany; and Christoph Anders, a physician at University Hospital Jena; was used to measure energy use. Not the kind that powers a hand dryers, but the kind that humans expend when doing any activity. In this case it focused on the results on the human foot mostly.

From Science Daily article here:

“Our heel touches the ground at the start of each step. In most mammals, the heel remains elevated during walking and running,” says biology Professor David Carrier, senior author of the new study being published online Friday, Feb. 12 and in the March 1 print issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology.

“Most mammals — dogs, cats, raccoons — walk and run around on the balls of their feet. Ungulates like horses and deer run and walk on their tiptoes,” he adds. “Few species land on their heel: bears and humans and other great apes — chimps, gorillas, orangutans.”

“Our study shows that the heel-down posture increases the economy of walking but not the economy of running,” says Carrier. “You consume more energy when you walk on the balls of your feet or your toes than when you walk heels first.”