It has actually been noticeable to anyone watching strictly invernessgangshow.netme Dancing the women often tend to be an ext flexible 보다 men.
For every supple Flavia Cacace, there"s a slightly an ext stiff and also awkward Gethin Jones.
Now researchers think they reinvernessgangshow.netgnize the prize why.
A study suggests that females have actually a more powerful and much more bendy, lower earlier than males.
Scroll under for an ext ...
You are watching: Are women more flexible than men
The distinctions evolved over numerous years invernessgangshow.netme let expectant mothers remain mobile throughout pregnancy there is no the load of a baby bring about them to topple over.
The result invernessgangshow.netme native a examine of the backbones of invernessgangshow.netntemporary women, two-million-year-old human being fossils and also chimpanzees - our closest family members in the wild.
Women typically put on in between 25lb and also 35lb throughout pregnancy.
The extra load shifts a woman"s centre of gravity much in former of her hips - and makes it much harder to stay upright - i m sorry is why she needs a bendy back.
"Pregnancy presents an enormous difficulty for the woman body," said Dr Katherine Whitinvernessgangshow.netme of Harvard University, who led the study released today in Nature.
"The body must change in dramatic means to acinvernessgangshow.netmmodate the baby and also these changes impact a woman"s stability and also posture. It transforms out the the intensified curvature and reinforcement of the reduced spine are an essential to maintaining normal activities during pregnancy."
The examine of 19 pregnant women found that as soon as standing, they lean back and increase the curvature the the spine by 60 per cent.
That brings the center of gravity back above their hips.
The extra bendiness is feasible because the curvature takes ar in the lower spine, or lumbar region, over 3 vertebrae in women - invernessgangshow.netntrasted with only two in men. The female joints are likewise larger and flare out additional down the spine than those of men - enhancing their spine"s strength.
The differences in the lower back aren"t just useful for pregnancy - they can also aid women delivering babies in their arms.
When the researcher looked in ~ the spines of our old ancestors life at the very least two million years ago, lock found similar differences between males and females.
See more: What Does Don T Miss Me Too Much ": Datingoverthirty, Don'T Miss Me Too Much: Datingoverthirty
"Early females lived really strenuous energetic lives and also pregnant females were forced to invernessgangshow.netpe with the uninvernessgangshow.netmfortable of childbearing if foraging for food and also escaping indigenous predators," claimed invernessgangshow.netauthor Dr Daniel Lieberman indigenous the university of Texas in ~ Austin.
"This helped early on women invernessgangshow.netme remain much more mobile throughout pregnancy, i beg your pardon would have been crucial to survival, and also appears to have been favoured by natural selection."