As most running mammals totter along on their toes it is unsurprising to learn that toe running is far more efficient than landing heel first like humans.

So, why have we stuck with our inefficient heel first footfall pattern when the rest of our bodies are honed for marathon running?

This paradox puzzled researchers at the University of Utah, until they began to wonder whether our distinctive heel first gait, inherited from our ape forefathers, might be an advantage when we walk.

The team put young healthy volunteers through their paces to find out why we walk and run heel first

Measuring the amount of oxygen consumed as their human subjects walked, the team asked the volunteers to walk in one of three different ways: normally, with the heel contacting the ground first; toes first, with the heel slightly raised so that it didn’t contact the ground; and up on tip-toes.

Then the scientists asked the athletes to repeat the experiments while running heel first and with their heels slightly raised. Calculating the amount of energy required to run and walk, the team found that walking with the heel slightly raised costs 53% more energy than walking heel first, and walking on tip-toe was even less economical.

However, there was no difference between the runners’ efficiencies when they ran with flat feet and up on their toes.

Our ‘heel first’ gait makes us incredibly efficient walkers, while both postures are equally efficient for runners. Human walkers burn roughly 70% less energy than human runners when covering the same distance.

However, this efficiency would be completely wiped out if we switched to walking on our toes

Analysing the results, the team realised that we lose less energy as our heels collide with the ground than we do when we walk toes first and also allows us to transfer more energy from one step to the next to improve our efficiency.

So we still use our ancestor’s heel first gait because it makes us better walkers and given the great distances hunter-gatherers travel, it is not surprising that humans are economical walkers.

Source: The Journal of Experimental Biology