Researcher Steven Collins and his team demonstrated that, without arm-swinging when walking, the effort to walk is increased by 12% or “the equivalent of walking 20% faster or carrying a 10 kg [22 lb] backpack.” Collins’ research on robots revealed that walking robots “had trouble walking without arms, tending to spin and fall. When Collins and his colleagues added free-swinging arms to the machines, they moved in a way similar to human arms” (Cosmos Magazine online, July 29, 2009).

So, rather than proving that arm swinging motions are useless leftovers from an imaginary evolutionary past, modern research is proving that arm-swinging motions are an important design element—providing further evidence of a Designer and Creator. King David wrote, “For You formed my inward parts… I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works… My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (Psalm 139:13-15).