The Mechanics of Walking

The last couple of days I have been more or less fascinated with the mechanics of walking.  Since I lost the toe things like stride and foot positioning are important.  That toe provides you with a bit of balance and support under certain circumstances - most notably when you are getting up or down (as when you kneel down to pick something up), when you are climbing or descending stairs, and when you are climbing or descending an irregular surface.  The foot picks of the slack quite easily, provided you placed it properly. 

 

So, for the last couple of days I have just been endlessly watching my stride.  It has actually turned into a sort of Zen walking - a focused and concentrated walk. I walk both at work to stay mentally alert and as exercise.  We have a program at work that provides a free pedometer and software to upload and track your results, so that has been kind of cool.  The recommended target is 7,000 steps a day, with 10,000 considered as very good.  I routinely average 10,000 on week days and may or may not hit it on weekends, generally getting over 7,000 though.  It seems odd, but with the pedometer I rapidly learned that I walk less on weekends (I would have expected the opposite).  Consequently on weekends I have to make a concentrated effort to walk for greater lengths of time and distances.

 

So, as you wander through your day, watch your feet in action and maybe you'll become as fascinated by the mechanics of walking as I have.