How does rolling in parkour videos help them feel no pain at all? How does it not break their knee or ankle?
In: Physics
The answer is that it is just physics at work.
When you jump from a building, you gain a certain amount of energy from the fall. When you drop an item (or yourself) from a building and just let it land, all that energy gets transferred to the object, which may cause it to break.
The trick is to find a way to dissapate that energy without having to absord it all, or find a way to absorb it in a way that is more spread out.
The worst case scenario would be to land on one foot, which as you state, would probably break your ankle. However, if you are able to land on both your feet and your hands, you have spread that force out over all four limbs, so each limb is taking less force. Then if instead of just landing, you redirect some of that downward force into forward force by rolling, your body will absorb the same amount, but it will do it over a long period of time (the roll) and over a larger part of your body (for instance your back may absorb some energy). This all reduces the peak energy that any single bone is absorbing, and allows you to safely land.
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