It takes far less energy to walk heel-first than to walk on the balls of your feet or on your toes.

Most mammals like dogs, cats, raccoons walk and run around on the balls of their feet. Ungulates like horses and deer run and walk on their tiptoes. Few species land on their heel while walking - bears, humans and other great apes - chimps, gorillas, orangutans. To look at the influence of foot posture on energy consumption while walking, researchers measured energy expenditure in 27 volunteers in their 20s, 30s or 40s as they walked or ran using the three different methods.

It was found that compared with heel-first walking, it takes 83 percent more energy to walk on your toes and 53 percent more energy to walk on the balls of your feet. The study shows that the heel-down posture increases the economy of walking but not the economy of running.

The findings indicate that more energy is consumed when you walk on the balls of your feet or your toes than when you walk heels first.