WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW IN ORDER TO RUN? HOW DO KIDS AND ANIMALS RUN?
In all these conversations and discussions about how we run there is always one point missing: what is common in running of humans and animals? May be even simpler: what is common in running of kids and animals? How do they do it?
Our understanding of the way we move, and particularly, of the way we run in historical retrospective, can be reduced to the conclusion that we do it by our muscle work. We are so much accustomed to this vision of running as a result of muscular power production that anything different from that immediately sounds as a heresy. Obviously, there are reasons to think this way. Our extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology of humans and animals is probably the strongest confirmation of this way of thinking.
So in order to run we (humans and animals) use muscular contractions to propel our bodies forward. For this matter we straighten our bent joints (ankles, knees, hips) and flex our muscles. By doing so we push the ground back with our legs (feet), using the third law of Newton, to propel ourselves in the opposite direction. Everybody knows it… or not so?
Do kids and animals know anything about anatomy, physiology and mechanics? Probably not, but nevertheless, they still run. So they do not have this kind of knowledge, but anyway they use something in order to perform, what we call, running. What would this common thing be for them to produce their movement? Indeed, what is that, which is available for kids and animals without any requirement for knowledge of anatomy and physiology and laws of mechanics?
It's really simple - it is a perception of the body weight. For kids and animals the body weight has no numbers or volume; it just exists, it is their body weight while they are staying on their feet. To feel your body weight, you just need a support, which doesn't disappear and allows you to apply your body weight. The body weight becomes the body weight when it's applied to support - something that doesn't move relatively to the body while it's pulled down.
But "who" pulls our body down? Kids and animals would probably say "Who cares?" But we are educated people and we know that it is gravity or attraction of the Earth. As you see, the body weight is just a transformation of gravity for the body and through the body. And this attractive force, perceived as the body weight, exists in us from the time of creation on the deepest cellular level. This perception is ingrained in every cell, part and organ of our body. It doesn't need our active participation in order to perform our movement.
Our muscles, as everything else in the body, are attached to our perception of the body weight and they are recruited as much as much of the body weight is involved. I have to make a point here that our body weight depends on how much our movement is oriented against gravity. There exists an elevator effect: when an elevator goes down - the body weight reduces for an instant according to acceleration of the body and on the opposite, when an elevator goes up - the body weight increases. In physics the body weight is measured by the number g - gravitational acceleration because the mass of the body is constant. So, our muscle tension depends mostly on how much work we do against gravity. Imagine some heavy weight hanging on a steel string. You can move it easily in a horizontal direction, but not in vertical.
The moment our body touches support our muscles are recruited and start working in accordance with the body's acceleration (body weight). They do so until the body weight becomes less than one body weight. The latter happens when the body loses its support and looks for the next support. This perception of the body weight reduction is a signal for the change of support. This is the main thing that kids and animals operate with. And this chain of events: gravity-body weight -support- muscular efforts, doesn't involve any voluntary recruitment of muscles to produce the so call push off. Instead there is a body weight transfer from one support to another in order to move in the desirable direction. This is what kids and animals do in order to run. Can we learn to do this, too?
Dr.Romanov
