STUPID QUESTION Ask a

WHY DO WE SWING OUR ARMS WHEN WE WALK?

Professor Philip Atherton, chairman of clinical, metabolic and molecular physiology at Nottingham University, says: ‘Humans are bipeds, meaning that we walk on two legs. As part of walking, we have established body actions. Quite simply, as we walk forward the pelvis sways one way while the shoulders and arms sway the other. This provides both balance and momentum.’