Walking Backwards
Dr. Egan advises most of his patients to participate in backwards walking for at least 10 minutes a day, and although that may sound a little outlandish, there are numerous great reasons for this!
Why you should be walking backwards for at least 10 minutes a day:
- Walking backwards put less strain on your knee joints and requires less range of motion - so, if you have trouble walking forwards because of the stress it places on your joints, or if you're recovering from a knee injury, consider switching to walking backwards.
- It may alleviate low back pain - backwards walking eliminates the typical heel-strike to the ground that walking forwards involves because the toe contacts the ground first. This change in walking pattern can lead to changes in the alignment in your pelvis which in turn will help open up the joints of the spine, thus, helping to decrease pain in your lower back!
- It has a greater cardiovascular benefit - walking backwards increases the heartrate quicker and further than walking forwards does, which suggests that there would be a greater cardiovascular pay-off, as well as an increase in calories burned!
- Strengthens your legs and core - especially your quadriceps and calves, which usually take a backseat to your hamstrings and glutes during regular walking
- Increases flexibility in your hamstrings
Basically, you've been walking forwards your whole life, so you've found many ways to compensate. Generally, our shoulders have become slouched forwards, our head is pulling out further forward than our bodies, our core isn't engaged, and our strides and short and choppy. Backwards walking is something that you're not used to doing, so you haven't found ways to compensate. Try walking backwards with back posture... it's virtually impossible to do without having to think about it. The form you have while walking backwards for a short amount of time every day will eventually transfer over to how you walk forwards if you train it consistently enough.
