PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Humans evolved to walk with an extra spring in our step

Scientists find the flexible human foot arch may have helped us to run and walk upright

2023-05-30
(Press-News.org) A new study has shown that humans may have evolved a spring-like arch to help us walk on two feet. Researchers studying the evolution of bipedal walking have long assumed that the raised arch of the foot helps us walk by acting as a lever which propels the body forward. But a global team of scientists have now found that the recoil of the flexible arch repositions the ankle upright for more effective walking. The effects in running are greater, which suggests that the ability to run efficiently could have been a selective pressure for a flexible arch that made walking more efficient too. This discovery could even help doctors improve treatments for present-day patients’ foot problems.

“We thought originally that the spring-like arch helped to lift the body into the next step,” said Dr Lauren Welte, first author of the study in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, who conducted the research while at Queen's University and is now affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It turns out that instead, the spring-like arch recoils to help the ankle lift the body.”

Step by step

The evolution of our feet, including the raised medial arch which sets us apart from great apes, is crucial to bipedal walking. The arch is thought to give hominins more leverage when walking upright: the mechanism is unclear, but when arch motion is restricted, running demands more energy. Arch recoil could potentially make us more efficient runners by propelling the center mass of the body forward, or by making up for mechanical work that muscles would otherwise have to do.

To investigate these hypotheses, the team selected seven participants with varying arch mobility, who walked and ran while their feet were being filmed by high-speed x-ray motion capture cameras. The height of each participant’s arch was measured, and their right feet were CT-scanned. The scientists created rigid models and compared them to the measured motion of the foot bones to test the effect of arch mobility on adjacent joints. They also measured which joints contributed the most to arch recoil, and the contribution of arch recoil to center of mass and ankle propulsion.

Leaning into bipedalism

Although the scientists expected to find that arch recoil helped the rigid lever of the arch to lift the body up, they discovered that a rigid arch without recoil either caused the foot to leave the ground early, likely decreasing the efficiency of the calf muscles, or leaned the ankle bones too far forward. The forward lean mirrors the posture of walking chimpanzees, rather than the upright stance characteristic of human gait. The flexible arch helped reposition the ankle upright, which allows the leg to push off the ground more effectively. This effect is even greater when running, suggesting that efficient running may have been an evolutionary pressure in favor of the flexible arch.

The scientists also found that the joint between two bones in the medial arch, the navicular and the medial cuneiform, is crucial to the arch’s flexibility. Changes to this joint could help us track the development of bipedalism in the hominin fossil record.

“The mobility of our feet seems to allow us to walk and run upright instead of either crouching forward or pushing off into the next step too soon,” said Dr Michael Rainbow of Queen’s University, senior author.

Therapeutic potential

These findings also suggest therapeutic avenues for people whose arches are rigid due to injury or illness: supporting the flexibility of the arch could improve overall mobility.

“Our work suggests that allowing the arch to move during propulsion makes movement more efficient,” said Welte. “If we restrict arch motion, it’s likely that there are corresponding changes in how the other joints function.”

“At this stage, our hypothesis requires further testing because we need to verify that differences in foot mobility across the population lead to the kinds of changes we see in our limited sample,” said Rainbow. “That said, our work sets the stage for an exciting new avenue of investigation.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Bile acid receptor could be innovative target in protecting the vision of premature newborns

Bile acid receptor could be innovative target in protecting the vision of premature newborns
2023-05-30
AUGUSTA, Ga. (May 30, 2023) – It sounds like bile acid in the eye would hurt, but scientists think stimulating one of its receptors can actually help protect the vision of premature newborns. It’s called the farnesoid-X-receptor, or FXR, a bile acid receptor whose expression is significantly diminished in two key cell types affected by retinopathy of prematurity. Medical College of Georgia scientists have early evidence that targeting that receptor could provide earlier, more impactful treatments for these babies, a process that could be expedited by the fact that the drugs they ...

Study finds similar quality and cost of care for patients treated by an allopathic (M.D.) or osteopathic (D.O.) physician

2023-05-29
1. Study finds similar quality and cost of care for patients treated by an allopathic (M.D.) or osteopathic (D.O.) physician Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-3723 Editorial: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-1165 URL goes live when the embargo lifts An observational study of more than 329,000 Medicare admissions found that older persons receiving hospital care from an allopathic (M.D.) or an osteopathic (D.O.) physician experience similar quality and cost of care. The findings are published in Annals ...

UCLA-led research suggests no difference in health outcomes, care costs for patients treated by traditional MDs or osteopaths

2023-05-29
New UCLA-led research suggests that patient mortality rates, readmissions, length of stay, and health care spending were virtually identical for elderly hospitalized patients who were treated by physicians with Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees. While both traditional, or allopathic, medical schools and osteopathic medical schools provide the same rigorous health education, osteopathic training adds a more holistic, hands-on component involving manipulation of the musculoskeletal system – for ...

Low-flavanol diet drives age-related memory loss, large study finds

2023-05-29
May 29, 2023--A large-scale study led by researchers at Columbia and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard is the first to establish that a diet low in flavanols—nutrients found in certain fruits and vegetables—drives age-related memory loss. The study found that flavanol intake among older adults tracks with scores on tests designed to detect memory loss due to normal aging and that replenishing these bioactive dietary components in mildly flavanol-deficient adults over age 60 improves performance on these tests. “The improvement among study participants with low-flavanol diets was substantial and ...

Vehicle stop study illuminates importance of officer's first words

Vehicle stop study illuminates importance of officers first words
2023-05-29
Eugenia Rho believes in the importance of first impressions, especially during vehicle stops. An assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, Rho is the lead author of a new research paper that illustrates how a law enforcement officer’s first 45 words during a vehicle stop with a Black driver can often indicate how the stop will end. “We found that there’s a key difference in how officers talk to Black drivers during the first moments of stops that end in an arrest, handcuffing, or search versus those that don’t end in such outcomes,” said Rho, who leads the Society, AI, and Language (SAIL) ...

Eliminating gene SRC-3 in immune cells triggers effective long-lasting anti-cancer response

2023-05-29
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered a crucial regulator of the anti-cancer immune response that could change the game in the fight against cancer. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study shows that in animal models of breast and prostate cancer, eliminating the gene SRC-3, specifically in a type of immune cell called regulatory T cells (Tregs), triggered a lifelong anti-cancer response that eradicated the tumor without the typical side effects observed with other therapies. Furthermore, transferring Tregs without SRC-3 to animals carrying breast cancer ...

Even lawyers don’t like legalese

2023-05-29
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- It’s no secret that legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, causing headaches for anyone who has had to apply for a mortgage or review any other kind of contract. A new MIT study reveals that the lawyers who produce these documents don’t like them very much either.   The researchers found that while lawyers can interpret and recall information from legal documents better than nonlawyers, it’s still easier for them to understand the same documents when translated into “plain English.” Lawyers also rated plain ...

One-third of galaxy’s most common planets could be in habitable zone

2023-05-29
Our familiar, warm, yellow sun is a relative rarity in the Milky Way. By far the most common stars are considerably smaller and cooler, sporting just half the mass of our sun at most. Billions of planets orbit these common dwarf stars in our galaxy. To capture enough warmth to be habitable, these planets would need to huddle very close to their small stars, which leaves them susceptible to extreme tidal forces. In a new analysis based on the latest telescope data, University of Florida astronomers have discovered ...

Mapping the conflict between farming and biodiversity

Mapping the conflict between farming and biodiversity
2023-05-29
It’s well known that producing foods such as beef can have an outsized footprint when it comes to carbon emissions. But a new study shows that some of these same staples can have an equally huge effect when it comes to biodiversity losses. One of the main problems, the study found, results when food production overlaps with areas that have been identified as having the highest conservation priority. Food production remains the main cause of biodiversity loss. “Food production remains the main cause of biodiversity loss,” said Keiichiro Kanemoto, an associate professor at the Research Institute for Humanity ...

COVID-19 vaccine builds powerful immune response in First Nations peoples, study finds

2023-05-29
Published in Nature Immunology and Nature Briefing, the research is the first of its kind to decisively map immune responses produced by a COVID-19 vaccination in any First Nations populations. In partnership with Menzies School of Health Research, researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) evaluated immune responses in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous individuals after receiving the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Lead author of the study and PhD candidate at the Doherty ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Nanoparticles that self-assemble at room temperature could transform vaccine delivery

With just a few messages, biased AI chatbots swayed people’s political views

Potatoes may increase risk of type 2 diabetes—depending on their preparation

Three weekly servings of French fries linked to higher diabetes risk

Global hunt for ‘positive tipping points’

Getting the most out of therapy – Therapists report what you should know before starting

Clean energy is here. Getting it to EVs isn’t

Study: Affordable trial programs prevented youth substance misuse

Better access to technology can help African Americans bridge the healthcare gap

Higher risk of ischemic stroke at young age after pregnancy complications

Complicated pregnancies linked to higher risk of early stroke

American Society of Anesthesiologists hosts ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2025

Cockatoos perform 30 distinct dance moves and may combine them in unique ways

Common patterns found among scientists with remarkable early-career citation success

Adolescent girls who have weight concerns despite not being obese are more likely to also experience depression and suicidality, per Korean survey of more than 50,000 middle and high school students

What’s in your pup’s bowl? Heavy metals, reveals 10-state survey

Ocean sediments might support theory that comet impact triggered Younger Dryas cool-off

Waiting in line: Why six feet of social distancing may not be enough

Toxic well water will affect household pets first, new study finds

Some young suns align with their planet-forming disks, others are born tilted

Neighbors matter: Community cohesion boosts disaster resilience, Texas A&M study finds

Virtual reality shows promise in easing stress for cardiac patients, UCLA Health study finds

MBARI researchers deploy new imaging system to study the movement of deep-sea octopus

Scrambled RNA nudges millions of people towards type-2 diabetes

Big heart, acute senses key to explosive radiation of early fishes

Getting sticky: The highest-performing underwater adhesive hydrogel polymer

The health impact of wildfires in Los Angeles County and Maui

Replacing brain immune cells in mice slows neurodegeneration in Stanford Medicine study

Early heartbeats direct the heart’s own development and growth

Changes to El Niño occurrence causing widespread tropical insect and spider declines

[Press-News.org] Humans evolved to walk with an extra spring in our step
Scientists find the flexible human foot arch may have helped us to run and walk upright