Q & A: Is there any benefit to walking backwards? I’ve seen it on TV and social media, Is that a thing?
A: Walking and/or jogging backwards can be great for your feet, ankles, knees, and your lower back. 5 to 10 min in total is usually enough to get the benefit. So on a 30 min walk you have 20-25 min forward and 5-10 min backward.
Why is walking backwards helpful?
- Let’s use the knees for an example. In knee rehab (replacement, scope, etc) an essential milestone is TKE. TKE is “terminal knee extension”, which is medical speak for being able to completely straighten out your knee. The ability to do TKE translates into your body’s ability to nourish* and stabilize your knee, and it’s absence is a problem.
- When you are going forwards the last bit of knee straightening (extension) is the easiest part. Whereas backwards walking or jogging makes fully extending your knee the hardest part of each step which translates to better quad strength and stability for the benefit of your knees.
The above 2 bullets are for the knees in particular, but for the rest of your lower body you can think of backwards walking as a way to create or improve balance. Literally and figuratively. If you train your biceps you also want to train your triceps.
*Movement nourishes your joints (and stillness starves them). The space between bones – like your knee joint – are “avascular,” or places with poor blood supply. In contrast tissues like your skin or muscles have a rich blood supply to remove waste and old cells, as well as to bring in fuel and raw material to repair those tissues.
Our joints rely on synovial fluid instead of blood. Synovial fluid is like a cross between motor oil and a protein shake. The amount and quality of synovial fluid rise with the amount of motion in a joint (reps and range). Getting the synovial fluid to hydrate the important parts of your joints (like the meniscus in your knee) also requires lots of motion. A joint deprived of motion (“rested” or immobilized) gets starved and dried out, which is especially risky for your knees.
Tips and pointers for walking backwards:
- Your 5-10 min don’t have to be all at once. When you’re outside it’s not always safe or practical to go that long backwards.
- Uphill and flat work better than downhill: downhill and backwards is when people tend to lose their balance, whereas uphill gives your legs a better workout and reinforces good technique.
- Treadmill:
- The ideal (but rare) set up is using a treadmill that doesn’t lock when it’s turned off. For this just put your hips against the console and start going backwards. The deadmill.
- Most newer treadmills lock when they’re turned off, so
- set it to a slight incline (1% or more)
- start slow (2mph)
- put your hips against the console and off you go.
This was a great question from a T180 lady. If you have questions you’d like to know more about please contact us.
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