Question: how much digrees is when you do a step

Rosie Coates answered on 10 Mar 2014:

Wow- this was a very hard question! Thanks for making me think @shannonh!!

Degrees is a unit of measure to look at the size of an angle, like a centimeter is a unit of measure to look at length. To explain how many degrees there are in a step we will have to think about what angles we want to measure

To answer this question I had to read about something called “human gait analysis” or biomechanics which is the study of how our skeletons change when we move. When scientists are looking at walking the angles they look at most are the angles of our knees and hips.

Stand with your feet together and we will look at the angles of one step froward. In this position we say the movement of your hip and knee joints is zero degrees. Now move your left foot forward like you’re going to walk and stop when you plant your foot on the ground. Your left hip joint will have rotated around 35 degrees from zero, while your knee joint will be around 17 degrees from zero.

I was surprised to learn that these angles don’t really change between men and women or old people and young people…

Thanks again for the great question! I enjoyed learning something new and I hope it was a good answer!