My 8-year-old curious son walked backwards quickly while climbing up the slope and asked us why is it easier to walk backwards in uphill than walking forward. We experimented and felt easier to climb. Why is it walking backward in uphill easier?
We got an amazing answer from Quora experts.
It can feel easier because of how weight and balance are distributed in the human body, and how our bones and muscles are structured make us better suited for walking forwards. Our legs are designed for power more than ease of motion, so walking up a slope forwards can be more tiring or slower if we do so in a way that relies on our strength instead of a more efficient alignment.
Walking up a slope backwards is more similar to falling than climbing, due to how our weight is distributed across movements and the much different use of our knees and involved muscles. But, if you walk up a slope backwards for a fair distance, you might notice that your muscles fatigue in a different way---a way that makes your legs feel a little shakier than muscle fatigue from forward walking. Perhaps walking uphill backwards fairly often would strengthen those muscles, but we are constructed to excel more at forwards bipedal ambulation than other directions (so the natural size and location of muscle groups will always favor walking forwards overall).
We evolved from animals that were often utilizing locomotion more resembling crawling or other four-legged means of moving about, and retain some of that technique in our upright walking. When some scientists were asked what a longer-lived and more efficient humanoid form might look like, outside the bounds of a particular evolutionary path, they suggested that backwards knees would entail less stress and wear over time.
Walking up a slope backwards is more similar to falling than climbing, due to how our weight is distributed across movements and the much different use of our knees and involved muscles. But, if you walk up a slope backwards for a fair distance, you might notice that your muscles fatigue in a different way---a way that makes your legs feel a little shakier than muscle fatigue from forward walking. Perhaps walking uphill backwards fairly often would strengthen those muscles, but we are constructed to excel more at forwards bipedal ambulation than other directions (so the natural size and location of muscle groups will always favor walking forwards overall).
We evolved from animals that were often utilizing locomotion more resembling crawling or other four-legged means of moving about, and retain some of that technique in our upright walking. When some scientists were asked what a longer-lived and more efficient humanoid form might look like, outside the bounds of a particular evolutionary path, they suggested that backwards knees would entail less stress and wear over time.
So, your question pertains both to the physics of moving your body and also the evolutionary source of our traits as humans. I did these same experiments as a kid.
Hmm... That's news to me!! Gotta try this technique 👍😃
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