Fighting may have shaped evolution of human hand
Fighting may have shaped the evolution of the human hand, according to a new study by a US team.
The University of Utah researchers used instruments to measure the forces and acceleration when martial artists hit a punch bag.
They found that the structure of the fist provides support that increases the ability of the knuckles to transmit “punching” force.
Details of the research have been published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
“We asked the question: ‘can you strike harder with a fist than with an open palm’,” co-author Prof David Carrier told BBC News.
“We were surprised because the fist strikes were not more forceful than the strikes with the palm. In terms of the work on the bag there is really no difference.”
Of course, the surface that strikes the target with a fist is smaller, so there is more stress from a fist strike.
“The force per area is higher in a fist strike and that is what causes localised tissue damage,” said Prof Carrier.
“There is a performance advantage in that regard. But the real focus of the study was whether the proportions of the human hand allow buttressing (support).”
The team found that making a clenched fist did indeed provide protective buttressing for the delicate bones of the hand. Making a fist increased the stiffness of the second meta-carpo-phalangeal, or MCP, joint (these joints are the knuckles visible when the hand is clenched as a fist) by a factor of four.
It also doubled the ability of the proximal phalanges (the bones of the fingers that articulate with the MCP joints) to transmit a punching force.
Dual use
In their paper, Prof Carrier and Michael H Morgan from the University of Utah’s school of medicine, point out that the human hand has also been shaped by the need for manual dexterity. But they say that a number of different hand proportions are compatible with an enhanced ability to manipulate objects.
“There may, however, be only one set of skeletal proportions that allows the hand to function both as a mechanism for precise manipulation and as a club for striking,” the researchers write.
“Ultimately, the evolutionary significance of the human hand may lie in its remarkable ability to serve two seemingly incompatible, but intrinsically human, functions.”
Prof Carrier commented: “The question for me is ‘why wasn’t this discussed 30, 40 years ago.’ As far as I know it isn’t in the literature.”
Asked whether the idea that aggression may have played a key role in shaping the human body might previously have been unpalatable to researchers, Prof Carrier explained: "I think we’re more in that situation now than we were in the past.
"I think there is a lot of resistance, maybe more so among academics than people in general - resistance to the idea that, at some level humans are by nature aggressive animals. I actually think that attitude, and the people who have tried to make the case that we don’t have a nature - those people have not served us well.
“I think we would be better off if we faced the reality that we have these strong emotions and sometimes they prime us to behave in violent ways. I think if we acknowledged that we’d be better able to prevent violence in future.”
Great read, thenx.
I have heard somewhere that southpaws had an evolutionary advantage because of their ability to win fights… http://www.economist.com/node/3471297
My question, regarding the “paper” i linked above, is why south paws are rare in the first place? How are they disadvantaged? It states that they are lighter and smaller on average…but i don’t know if that is the reason.
[QUOTE=erezb;2749274]Great read, thenx.
I have heard somewhere that southpaws had an evolutionary advantage because of their ability to win fights… http://www.economist.com/node/3471297[/QUOTE]
So, based on that article. Left handers are trouble makers.
It is kind of interesting how people naturally ball up their fists and start swinging when violence erupts; seems equally plausible that other strikes would be as intuitive (I hear this varies based on what part of the world you’re from).
[QUOTE=Batman Smells;2749321]The devil sits on the left shoulder[/QUOTE]
They’re also sneaky. There’s a story in the bible about a cack-hander stabbing someone (a king, possibly) because being left-handed he kept his sword on the other hip, under his man dress, and so passed possibly the worst weapons search in all of recorded history.
The author failed to consider the dominance of Wing Chun’s biu jee strikes which claim your centreline while simultaneously delivering devastating damage.
[QUOTE=Permalost;2749310]It is kind of interesting how people naturally ball up their fists and start swinging when violence erupts; seems equally plausible that other strikes would be as intuitive (I hear this varies based on what part of the world you’re from).[/QUOTE] I was always fond of headbutts and kicks when I was a wee lad, I blame that playing soccer and doing taekwondo when I was younger.
[QUOTE=PizDoff;2749416]The author failed to consider the dominance of Wing Chun’s biu jee strikes which claim your centreline while simultaneously delivering devastating damage.[/QUOTE]
Second proof that you really cannot escape your past…
Not only does PizDoff gently remind me of my chunner beginnings on here, Youtube/Google has randomly chosen a still picture from a Siu Nim Tau form I uploaded a long time ago as my avatar and doesn’t let me change it to anything else… Folks keep asking me couple of times daily whether I’m pissing myself…
[QUOTE=captainbirdseye;2749414]They’re also sneaky. There’s a story in the bible about a cack-hander stabbing someone (a king, possibly) because being left-handed he kept his sword on the other hip, under his man dress, and so passed possibly the worst weapons search in all of recorded history.[/QUOTE]
Edhud stabbin the king of Moab I believe. Bro was so fat the the sword was swallowed up by his stomach.
[QUOTE=judokarl;2749418]I was always fond of headbutts and kicks when I was a wee lad, I blame that playing soccer and doing taekwondo when I was younger.[/QUOTE]
I was at a seminar a few years ago, and Eyal Yanilov was describing how violence is different in different parts of the world, and he said “In a lot of parts of the world, if you take a fight to the ground, random people will start kicking you, but if you take a fight to the ground in Brazil, random people will start betting on you”.
[QUOTE=Permalost;2756489]I was at a seminar a few years ago, and Eyal Yanilov was describing how violence is different in different parts of the world, and he said “In a lot of parts of the world, if you take a fight to the ground, random people will start kicking you, but if you take a fight to the ground in Brazil, random people will start betting on you”.[/QUOTE]
I spoke to him when I was doing a report on KM a few years back, he was a nice guy, but not this funny…
