Recently, I made a few connections from some reading that I’ve done. A new insight has me wondering if I shouldn’t focus more on aspects of human movement (and the body) through the lens of evolution.
The first part of this insight came from reading Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life a couple of years ago. Specifically, this section on nature:
The Nature of Nature
It is a truism of biology that evolution is conservative. When something evolves, it must build upon what nature has already produced. New features may be added, and old features may undergo some alteration, but most things remain the same. It is for this reason that the wings of bats, the hands of human beings, and the fins of whales look astonishingly alike in their skeletal form. They even have the same number of bones. Evolution laid down the cornerstones for basic physiology long ago.
The second part of this insight came recently, as a Google search led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, but with a fruitful result: Throwing in Early Human Evolution by Steve (please let me know if you know more about the author).
Using chimpanzees as a proxy for early hominids (specifically focusing on hands, feet, and limbs), we might begin to understand the human body in “new” ways.
Many people understand that our arms, hands, and especially shoulders can benefit greatly from brachiation (hanging and swinging) (think monkey bars). A lack of this movement input has led to many common issues in modern humans. The absence of hanging or swinging in modern humans, as detrimental as it may be, would likely be much worse for chimpanzees.
What might be the most essential movement input for humans, then?
Based on Steve’s writing, it might be the throwing (and swinging) sticks and stones, or portable object manipulation.
Now back to Jordan Peterson’s book, which states:
Now evolution works, in large part, through variation and natural selection.
Variation exists for many reasons, including gene-shuffling (to put it simply) and random mutation.
Individuals vary within a species for such reasons. Nature chooses from among them, across time. That theory, as stated, appears to account for the continual alteration of lifeforms over the eons. But there’s an additional question lurking under the surface: what exactly is the “nature” in “natural selection”? What exactly is “the environment” to which animals adapt?
Could coming down from the trees be “the environment” and large cats nature’s “selector”?
If so, what might be the solution?
An anatomical shift (adaptation) from being optimized for manipulation of fixed objects (branches attached to trees) primarily for evasion (flight) purposes to optimization for manipulation of portable objects (sticks and stones) for protection (fight).
Why might this matter?
As beneficial as hanging and swinging can be for the human body, swinging and throwing could be even more essential. Implementing movement practices that focus on portable object manipulation might help resolve this input deficiency and could be extremely beneficial.
Sources:
Pensador Body 