Runners with symmetrical knees are faster

Runners with symmetrical knees are faster

19/11/2014

Runners from Jamaica are among the most successful athletes in the world. As an international study with German participation has now shown, sprinters with symmetrical knees are faster than their colleagues. This is true for many Caribbean Seaport athletes.

Better mileage with symmetrical knees
The smoothness of a runner is the better, the more symmetrical his knees are. This was the result of a study by an international team of researchers led by the Rutgers University in the USA with the participation of the University of Göttingen. „The lower the morphological differences in the knee joints of a runner, the better his mileage“, said the Göttingen anthropologist Bernhard Fink, according to a message from the news agency dpa. The scientists now publish their findings in the journal „PLOS ONE ".

World class athletes from Jamaica
Based on the physique of world-class athletes from Jamaica could thus be proven that the sprinters with the most symmetrical knees showed the best mileage. In addition, it was also shown that the symmetry of the knee and hock joints among the athletes was greater overall than under an age group of the same age group. Jamaica's elite sprinters are among the best in the world. Under the direction of the American evolutionary biologist Prof. Dr. med. Robert Trivers examined the research team 74 sprinters from a sports club in the capital Kingston.

Symmetry of the knee and ankle joints
Among them were World Champion and Olympic champion Shelley-Ann Fraser-Ryce and Nesta Carter (2014 annual best: 9.96 seconds). 116 people of the rural population from the south of the island served as a comparison group. In this group, the symmetry of the knee and ankle joints was lower overall for the participants. It turned out that "the highest degree of symmetry was found especially in the group of 100-meter runners". As also reported, "the knees were not examined by world record holder Usain Bolt."

Longer distances can lead to asymmetry
„Since the knees are subjected to a tremendous load during the sprint, knee symmetry is essential for efficient mileage“, explained Dr. Finch in a message from the University of Göttingen. It also states that longer runs involve more turns, which can lead to a higher asymmetry of body features. The scientists now want to investigate in subsequent studies, among other things, the relationship between body symmetry and the power of the leg and gluteal muscles. In addition, they want to look at "whether a genetic basis for the performance of Jamaica's top athletes in West Africa can be found." (Ad)