Why doesn't instinct tell us how to fall safely?

Question

You're running or walking and you trip and fall forward. Instinctively, you stretch out your hand or hands - and risk a sprained or broken wrist.
The right thing to do is crook your elbow and take the fall on the forearm, but we have to be taught this. Why?

Answer 1

it does we just don't know how to listen!

Answer 2

It is not clear to me that your contention that "crook[ing] your elbow" would be any better; landing with your hands softens the blow as it permits the force of the landing to be absorbed by the muscles of the arms. A elbow landing would involve much greater force because your body would go from its falling velocity to 0 nearly instantanteously, implying a large acceleration. Moreover, the elbow-joint is a far more fragile and important bone: a sprained wrist is trivial in comparison.

Answer 3

I always figured that you instinctively stretch out your hands to stop from hurting a more important part of your body. Like the head.

It's the same principle why the blood rushes from your hands and feet and circulates in your chest when it's really cold out. Not that losing a finger wouldn't be horrible, but I think your heart or lungs from stop working, would be a little more traumatic.

Answer 4

Who says thats the best way?

Impulse equals force times time equals change in momentum.

Solve for Force, means if you increase the time of your impact, you decrase the force you recieve.

Landing on your hands lets you bend at the elbow and therefore reduce the impact, same w/ bending your knees as you land from a jump, falling some few meters with locked legs is enough to break them.

So all in all, you save your body, but skim your hands, rather than save your hands and break your chest.

Answer 5

Your question is moot...

On one hand...instinct doesn't keep you from learning things like "fire is hot".

On the other hand...your instinct isn't the same as another's. Just because your instinct didn't allow you to fall correctly, doesn't mean that everyone falls the same way initially.

Answer 6

Because people that land on their wrists often fail to die and end up procreating. Instinct prevents -life threatening- injuries, not general injuries. A broken wrist is rarely, if ever, life threatening.

Answer 7

I giess instinct does tell us to fall safely ... at least in the initial days of our llife .... like very small kids (toddlers)

later when we grow out, our brain starts to develop fears and this overcomes our instincts ...

Answer 8

instinct knows all about gravity. we stop when we hit the floor. these are truths. instinct doesnt expect us to be so stupid as to trip because of teh latest fashons... and my friend tripped over a kerbstone...she was drunk and the damage to her teeth and jaw cost a fortune to fix... baseball bat in the face would have hurt less. we fall where we fall.

me, im an amputee, i only have one leg and one arm, and i learned to fall gracefully....

Answer 9

better than landing on your head, I think there my be a few reasons eg you fall slightly further if you bend your elbows and thus you hit harder, we may try to grab at things which you cant do with bent elbows. It obviously isnt a big problem

Answer 10

lol trust me nature has taught us how to fall very well, i have been very ill recently and i am learning to walk again, part of what i am doing is educating my nerves to work together with muscles, i was recently falling on an daily basis and when i fell i went like a ton of bricks, snapping sounds were heard and there was alot of pain,

Answer 11

Instinct guides you not to fall at all.But most of the people donot react to instinct.