Want to run further? Become a swinger! Researchers say moving your arms when you run can save large amounts of energy
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Swinging your arms when you run helps save energy, researchers have found.
They say swinging your arms when you run could actually help people run for longer.
Previously it has been thought the arms were swung simply for balance.
Swinging your arms when you run helps save large amounts of energy and can dramatically improve your endurance, researchers have found
HOW THEY DID IT
The scientists looked at people who were keen runners.
The researchers first asked 13 runners to run normally on a treadmill as they measured the rates at which they consumed oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide.
They next asked the volunteers to run without swinging their arms in three different ways -- by lightly clasping their hands behind their back, crossing the arms across their chest, and holding their hands on the top of their head.
'Although the mechanical function is quite clear, there is no consensus regarding the metabolic benefit of arm swing during human running,' the researchers, led by Christopher Arellano, a biomechanist at Brown University, wrote in The Journal of Experimental Biology.
In the new study, the scientists looked at people who were keen runners.
The researchers first asked 13 runners to run normally on a treadmill as they measured the rates at which they consumed oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide.
They next asked the volunteers to run without swinging their arms in three different ways -- by lightly clasping their hands behind their back, crossing the arms across their chest, and holding their hands on the top of their head.
The scientists found that swinging the arms reduced energy costs by 3 percent compared with holding the hands behind the back, 9 percent compared with holding the arms across the chest, and 13 percent compared with holding the hands on top of the head.
The scientists found that swinging the arms reduced energy costs by 3 percent compared with holding the hands behind the back, 9 percent compared with holding the arms across the chest, and 13 percent compared with holding the hands on top of the head.
'In conclusion, our findings support our general hypothesis that swinging the arms reduces the metabolic cost of human running,' they said.
'Our findings also demonstrate that arm swing minimizes torso rotation.
'We infer that actively swinging the arms provides both metabolic and biomechanical benefits during human running.'
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