title: A wider pelvis does not increase locomotor cost in humans, with implications for the evolution of childbirth.
abstract: The shape of the human female pelvis is thought to reflect an evolutionary trade-off between two competing demands: a pelvis wide enough to permit the birth of large-brained infants, and narrow enough for efficient bipedal locomotion. This trade-off, known as the obstetrical dilemma, is invoked to explain the relative difficulty of human childbirth and differences in locomotor performance between men and women. The basis for the obstetrical dilemma is a standard static biomechanical model that predicts wider pelves in females increase the metabolic cost of locomotion by decreasing the effective mechanical advantage of the hip abductor muscles for pelvic stabilization during the single-leg support phase of walking and running, requiring these muscles to produce more force. Here we experimentally test this model against a more accurate dynamic model of hip abductor mechanics in men and women. The results show that pelvic width does not predict hip abductor mechanics or locomotor cost in either women or men, and that women and men are equally efficient at both walking and running. Since a wider birth canal does not increase a woman's locomotor cost, and because selection for successful birthing must be strong, other factors affecting maternal pelvic and fetal size should be investigated in order to help explain the prevalence of birth complications caused by a neonate too large to fit through the birth canal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States of America.
authors.forename: Anna G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Warrener
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 72 East Concord St. (L 1004), Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kristi L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Lewton
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., New York, New York, 10065, United States of America.
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pontzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States of America.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Lieberman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D010388:Pelvis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult