How Do You Walk?

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1037, 15 January 1892, Page 11

How Do You Walk?

A shoemaker says :—As soon asaman comes into my shop and takes off liis shoes I can tell whether he is a good walker, and it is astonishing to find how few men know the proper way to step out. If the shoe is worn down at the heel, not on the side but straight back, and leather of the sole shows signs of weakness at the ball of the foot, a little greater on the inside just below the base of the great toe, I know that the wearer is a good walker. If, however, the heel is turned on one side, or is worn evenly throughout, and the sole is worn most near the toe, I know that I have to deal with a poor pedestrian. The reason of the difference in position of the worn spots lies in the fact that the poor walker walks fi’om his knee and the good one from his hip. Watch the passer-by on the street, and you will at once see the difference. Nine men out of ten will bend the knee very considerably in walking, stepping straight out with both knees on the same line, and the toe wifi be the first to strike the ground. The tenth man will bend the knee very little, just enough to clear the ground, and will swing the leg from the hip, vex-y much as the arm is swung from the shoulder, and not fi’om the elbow. By so doing he calls upon the muscles which are strongest to bear the str-ain, and increases the length of his stride four or six inches. The heel touches the ground first and not the toe. A slight spring is given from the ball of the foot on making another stride. Men who walk in this fashion cover the ground 30 per cent faster with the same exertion than those who walk from the knee. In pugilism the old rule is to strike from the shoulder and not from the elbow. In pedestrianism it is to step out from the hip and not from the knee.