Schopnost efektivně se pohybovat v daném prostředí byla pro člověka a jeho předchůdce klíčová k zajištění dostatku energie k přežití a rozmnožování. Potřeba překonávat vzdálenosti s co nejmenšími náklady formovala stavbu našich končetin již od doby, kdy jsme se poprvé postavili na dvě končetiny. S příchodem rodu Homo dochází ke změnám dolní končetiny a celého těla umožňujícím efektivnější běh, jenž byl v té době nejlepším způsobem, jak se dostat k masu. Neandrtálce stála chůze a běh více energie než moderní lidi, nicméně rozdíly byly malé a zřejmě nepřispěly k vyhynutí neandrtálců., The ability to move effectively through a given environment was crucial for humans and their ancestors to acquire enough energy for survival and reproduction. The need to cover distances with minimum costs has formed our limbs since we first stood on two limbs. With the early representatives of the genus Homo, the lower limbs and the whole body changed to allow more effective running, which was the best way to obtain meat in those times. H. neanderthalensis had higher costs of walking and running than modern humans, but the differences were subtle and did not contribute to the downfall of H. neanderthalensis., and Martin Hora, Vladimír Sládek.
Despite abundant knowledge about the relationship between body size (i.e., body mass, lower limb length) and limb posture during locomotion on the level of interspecies variability, little is known about variation on the intraspecific level. We used an experimental approach to evaluate the relationship between body size and knee posture during walking in humans at specific gait events and at each percentage point of normalized stance phase. We detected significant negative correlation between knee flexion angle and body mass at the second peak of the vertical ground reaction force, but, in contrast to a previous study, we found no significant relationship between knee flexion angle and lower limb length. Although not significant, strengthened correlations between knee flexion angle and lower limb length were detected at late stance phase and these coincide well with the strengthened correlations between knee flexion angle and body mass. Our findings support the view that body size influences limb posture during locomotion even on the intraspecific level. In humans, larger individuals tend to use more extended knee postures in late stance of walking than do smaller individuals.