November is Falls Prevention Month
We bring you some thoughts on the topic. Here’s #1 in a series:
WHY DO WE FALL? (SPOILER ALERT – MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE WE’VE BARELY LEARNED TO WALK)
A very brief history of walking:
550 million years ago* the first animals crawl from the sea onto land. Going from crawling to walking, though, must have been one of evolution’s toughest challenges. 545 million years pass by before any attempt to move about on two legs occurs. Another 4 – 5 million years elapse before Homo Erectus becomes the first fully bi-pedal species. (One could argue we learn quickly.)
So here’s the math. Walking upright on two legs has been around for less than 2 million of the past 550 million years. Or, to put it another way, if the entire history of life on land is compressed into one day, walking appears at 11:55 PM. Considering how recently we stopped crawling and started walking, the marvel of human ability is that we don’t fall more often.
* Dates are approximate
