eli5 why do muscles get tired after holding the same position for an extended period of time?
In: 169
I think I see the issue.
So, your legs aren’t rigid like a table’s legs. If you’re standing still, you’re actually pretty precariously balanced, and you might just tip over. For example, people with inner ear infections struggle to stay standing sometimes.
Your bones aren’t perfectly stacked, you’re top heavy, etc.
So your body is *constantly* making adjustments to keep you from tipping over. Your toes need to flex, your legs shift a bit side to side, etc. All of this actually uses a lot of power over time.
A table on weird hinged legs would need to be precariously balanced, and then you’d still need someone standing there fixing it constantly.
For a different issue, if you’re holding your arms out to the side, again, there’s nothing rigid holding it up. It’s floppy bags of meat and bones connected with string. Unlike a rigid frame, if the muscles stop working, it’s just floppy.
This is actually good for us, because if we were rigid, we couldn’t move. And we spend a lot more time moving than holding one position for hours at a time, at least historically.
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