If you spend your days walking into table corners, dropping your phone or stubbing your toe on the way to the bathroom, apparently it’s really not your fault. Yes, you can try to be more observant, but a new study has proven that you’re born with your clumsiness. The University of Delaware decided to look at the reason some of us seem more accident-prone than others… and decided to go to the source of college sports to analyse the rate of injuries. Taking a sample of 1,500 student-athletes at 18 different universities during the pre-season, the research team carried out a series of neurological and cognitive tests. The tests were designed to measure just how observant and 'quick' subjects were to react to each element of the question. The participants were both male and female athletes, who played across a number of sports including hockey, wrestling, volleyball, football and gymnastics. Amongst the tests were colour tests – measuring the reaction times and processing speeds by telling athletes to click in a box when they saw the word ‘red’ displayed in a red colour, but not if it appeared in blue, green, yellow, etc. The team then compared 80 of the students with injuries with 80 non-injured athletes. The findings were clear: athletes who suffered from the injury had significantly slower reaction times and processing speeds, as well as lower visual and verbal memory scores than those who were injury-free. The study also found this was something people were born with, but could train themselves to be less of a klutz. Speaking about the results, lead author of the study Charles ‘Buzz’ Swanik, from the University of Delaware said: “These results suggest that slower processing speed and reaction time, as well as lower visual and verbal memory performance may predispose certain individuals to errors in coordination during physical activity that can lead to injury.” So how can you curb your clumsiness? Swanik points at the moment of your awkwardness as nothing more than momentary distractions. As well as having your eyes checked for visual awareness, Swanik suggests a regular exercise regimen can help improve stability and balance. Problem sorted. H/T Elite Daily