Longer toes, unique ankle structure aids sprinters
People with longer toes and a unique ankle structure that allows for quicker acceleration make better sprinters, according to biomechanists.
Penn State scientists analyzed the feet of 12 collegiate sprinters and 12 non-athletes of similar heights. They measured the distance between the end of the toes and used ultrasound imaging to measure the sliding of the Achilles tendon during ankle motion.
What they found was that the lever arms - the distance between the tendon and center of the rotation of the ankle) were significantly shorter in sprinters. Because the lever arms are shorter, the muscles shorten less for the same joint rotation. If muscles shorten less, they shorten more slowly, which helps them produce greater force.
“Maybe our ancestors with longer toes were better sprinters,” said Stephen Piazza, an associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State. “Or maybe longer toes were selected for at a time when navigating trees was more important and our toes became shorter as endurance running became more important for our survival.”
EcoSpeak is thrilled to have another excuse for being a slow runner. “It’s not me, it’s my toes.”
No word from the scientists if one freakishly long toe - you know you’ve seen these people during sandal season - gives any advantage.
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Kim McGuire joined the Post-Dispatch in August 2007. She has covered the environment for almost 10 years while working at The Denver Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In 2004, McGuire was named a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. 
Are you freaking kidding me?
Could there be a more useless studies conducted by Penn State?
What an utter waste of time and resources….
A couple things: First, I don’t study biomechanics but, I’m willing to bet that the majority of the force responsible for creating a sprinter’s acceleration is not derived from pushing off from the ankle. It’s more likely from the quads and gluts. Secondly, I’m willing to bet that if one were to look at ten random college sprinters, you would in fact not come up with a very ethnically diverse group of individuals and therefore, it would be difficult to isolate a single anatomical cause for their above average speed. Point being, they may have other attributes in common that explain it. This study would be better served to look at a diverse group of individuals who all happened to be fast sprinters to see what features they share in common. Finally, while environment does have an effect on phenotype, I doubt sprinting for a lifetime could signifcantly effect the growth and development of major bones by shortenning the heal, especially when sprinting provides no compressive force on the heal to stunt it’s growth.