Feldenkrais, Health and Wellness
Lorraine Davis
Mindful Movement at The Wellness Station

Find out more about how you can participate in the mindful movement classes offered at The Wellness Station, including Breakout Yoga and Awareness Through Movement.

Mindful Movement at The Wellness Station
Feldenkrais, Balance
Lorraine Davis
Balance For Life

Balance tends to decline with age and inactivity. Do not let these difficult circumstances affect your balance and increase your risk of falling. Follow this blog to gather insight in the mysterious systems that allow us to maintain our balance, and learn more about the services The Wellness Station offers that can help enhance these systems.

Balance For Life
Lorraine Davis
My Journey to Embodiment With Feldenkrais 
My Journey to Embodiment With Feldenkrais 

Pain Relief

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Back Away From Knee Pain and Balance Issues: Walk Backwards!

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Most of us are aware of the benefits of walking for a plethora of physical and mental health conditions. Walking is a necessary part of life for most people, and is what allows us to engage with the world around us. Walking allows us to explore our environment, is an excellent opportunity to spend time outdoors with our loved ones, and allows us to maintain healthy bones, muscles, hearts, lungs, and brains. 

When we think about walking, we are unlikely to consider walking backwards. However, walking backwards comes with a host of additional benefits, as it allows us to use our bodies and minds in a different way.

Here are some ways that backwards walking might help you:

 

May Help with Knee Pain

When you move backwards, whether it is walking, running, or going down the stairs, it reduces the compressive stress at the patella-femoral joint (the knee cap) as compared with moving forwards. This is based on the biomechanics of the movement . You might notice that when you go down stairs forwards, especially if you have a sore knee, that the increased bending of the knee required to go down the stairs forwards could further aggravate an irritated knee. Go down the stairs backwards, and this completely changes the forces on the knee!

Be sure to do this only after practicing on the first 2 lowest stairs, becoming very confident and comfortable with what can be quite disorienting at first.

Many clientele might enjoy going on walks, but notice that the further they walk, the more it bothers their knees. Especially when walking down hills. For these individuals, walking backwards might allow them to walk further and more comfortably!

Be absolutely sure of the terrain as you walk backwards, appreciate that this is challenging to your neuromuscular system at first)

A six-week study comparing a forwards and backwards walking program for individuals with knee osteoarthritis demonstrated that the backwards walking group had significantly reduced knee pain, increased quadriceps (front of thigh muscle) strength, and physical performance compared to the forwards walking group.

Improved Balance

Walking backwards has been shown to improve stability and improve balance performance for those at increased risk of falling. Why might this be? Practicing backwards walking may help to improve posture for those that have difficulties standing more upright. 

Additionally, our balance is controlled by many systems of the body, including vision, the vestibular system (inner ear), and the somatosensory system (sensory nerves). When we are walking backwards, we rely less on our vision (unless we have eyes in the back of our head!), and more on the other senses.

We must pay closer attention to the sensations from our feet on up in order to walk backwards, rather than relying on looking with our eyes at the ground with each step. If you alternate taking a step forward, and then backwards, compare the sensations in your feet – quite intriguing!

This can improve our spatial awareness and coordination, which enhances our balance and reduces our risk of falling.

Mindfulness and Awareness

Walking backwards is a practice in mindfulness and self-awareness. When we walk forwards, we are much more likely to go into auto-pilot, which in neuroscience is referred to as the default mode network. The little person in the control room (our brains) could be” reading a magazine” while we walk forwards, as we have been doing this our whole lives and it has become very automatic.

Walking backwards allows you to become more present with every step, rooting your attention in the here and now. This can be helpful for anxiety, as it produces a state of calm and presence. By shifting out of auto-pilot, we create new neural pathways and are more likely to experience learning and cognitive enhancements.

It is a neurophysiological fact that when we reverse a common function, we improve the skill level of that particular activity!

How To Implement Safely

When beginning to walk backwards, the most important thing is safety. Start at the kitchen counter: keep a soft hold on the counter, and practice switching between walking forwards and backwards.

Next, one could try walking throughout a room in the house, free of clutter.

Walking backwards on a treadmill is also an often. It is important to turn the speed down to the minimum, and hold on to the handrails to ensure safety. Try alternating between a minute of forward and a minute of backward walking, repeated in sets for as long as desired.

Walking backwards outside is also an option, but caution must be taken. One might start by only trying this when walking with someone else, who can serve as your eyes. Make sure you are in a clear path, free of oncoming traffic and obstacles!

The whole walk need not be backwards. One could mainly walk normally, but could try intervals of backwards walking (e.g. a minute at a time, 40 steps at a time, etc.) There is one area of my neighborhood walk that is about two blocks long, rarely has any cars, and has ample sidewalk and grassy areas. Whenever I get to this, I switch to walking backwards, which has become quite an enjoyable experience.