Awkward photos…Date smarter but necessarily walk that way…

Take a look at this photo from an airplane magazine I was leafing through on my way home from teaching a recent needling seminar.

I am not really interested in matchmaking (which this ad is for), but the “awkwardness” of the gait caught my eye (not much on the gait cam this time, sorry).

Yes, their feet and legs seem to be in synch (for the most part), but take a look at the arms and hands. First of all, he has his right hand in his pocket, which will restrict its motion during forward movement of his left leg. In the shot, his right leg is forward (as is hers), though they are slightly out of synch. His left arm and hand don’t move forward that much in that he adducts it across his body, so he seems to move his left shoulder up and forward to compensate. She appears to be resisting this motion somewhat with her right arm as her right leg comes forward and she needs to lean her body to the right. Also note the increased abduction of her left arm and forearm as it extends in tandem with her left leg and thigh.

Try walking with your right arm moving forward with your right leg. Notice how your right shoulder resists moving forward in tandem with the right hip? This is phasic, as Dr Allen likes to say, and because there is not an opposite force to counteract the forward movement of the hip in the saggital plane, you often lean to move the center of gravity to that side in the coronal plane.

Wouldn’t it make slightly more sense, when walking hand in hand to have the opposite legs in synch, rather the same ones? Hmm…Food for thought and fodder. All that from a  little picture : )