The evolution of marathon running: capabilities in humans
updated
Lieberman DE, Bramble DM. The evolution of marathon running: capabilities in humans. Sports Med. 2007;37(4-5):288–90. PubMed #17465590.
Tags: barefoot, foot, leg, limbs, pain problems, running, exercise, self-treatment, treatment
original abstract†Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Humans have exceptional capabilities to run long distances in hot, arid conditions. These abilities, unique among primates and rare among mammals, derive from a suite of specialised features that permit running humans to store and release energy effectively in the lower limb, help keep the body's center of mass stable and overcome the thermoregulatory challenges of long distance running. Human endurance running performance capabilities compare favourably with those of other mammals and probably emerged sometime around 2 million years ago in order to help meat-eating hominids compete with other carnivores.
related content
- “Endurance running and the evolution of Homo,” an article in Nature, 2004.
- Born to run: a hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen, a book by Christopher McDougall. amazon.com
These two articles on PainScience.com cite Lieberman 2007 as a source:
- PS Is Running on Pavement Risky? — Hard-surface running may be risk factor for running injuries like patellofemoral pain, IT band syndrome, shin splints, and plantar fasciitis
- PS Does barefoot running prevent injuries? — A dive into the science so far of barefoot or minimalist “natural” running
