Dr Alice Roberts' new program on BBC is a must watch. A kind of epic 'who do you think you are' she climbs along our extensive family tree from ape like ancestors to straight walking Homo erectus. Tracking evolutionary change to understand how and why we, (Homo sapians) came to walk tall, craft tools and ultimately, change the world.
I was greatly intrigued when she
revealed the facts about our indispensable Gluteus maximus.
Gluteus
Maximus- from the Latin, largest and
outermost muscle, it is in fact the largest muscle in the human body. Our evolutionary
leap from quadrupeds to bipeds has caused a cascade of changes as many elements
of the musculoskeletal system have reorganised to promote locomotion and
posture. The distinctiveness of this prominent muscle lead scientists to
believe that it must have been selected for, and was an important part of our evolutionary,
anatomical history. Studies looked at how our bodies moved whilst walking and
running and what was needed to maintain balance and our upright posture. They
found that the GM was not essential for walking on flat terrain but acted as a
trunk stabiliser during endurance running. This small change in anatomy of
early hominids reveals an interesting story of our ancestors. Endurance runners
that spanned the African deserts, hunting and running from formidable predators.
I bet you didn’t think our bottoms were responsible for the survival of our
ancestors?! Other theories suggest that the GM would have played a significant
role in climbing and a novel adaption for foraging tasks such as digging.
One
thing we know for sure, is that it wasn’t meant to be sat on! So embrace you
Gluteus maximus and use it well. I feel a little better about running the Bath
Half marathon. Because now I know it’s what I, and
my ancestors were built for.....
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