Decrease accumulation of strain during walking

Today's content is continuing our focus on how we can change our habits,

to create life-long, 

pain-free, 

full movement.

Learning to walk is something most of us learnt quite naturally.

Children learn to walk by copying those around them.

And parents are proud and excited when their children first learn to walk.

As we get older we learn walking habits that aren’t optimal for our bodies. 

For example, say someone sprained an ankle, and started limping. After the ankle had recovered from pain, there was a minor compensation remaining. Or someone had back pain and was hunched over and shuffled when they were in pain and after the pain was gone they continued with the loss of optimal foot placement, or a child was around a grandparent who had a painful osteoarthritic knee and they subconsciously copied part of their walking style. 

Many of us go for a walk for exercise during the week,

or use walking for commuting to or from work, from the carpark or to public transport, or for shopping. 

It is something many of us do every day from the moment we get out of bed. 

When was the last time you thought about how you are walking?

Did you know that walking is a skill that we can learn to improve?

I used to think that everyone's walking is good enough just the way it is.

Then I started seeing how many people have overactive muscles while walking.

Why would we want to improve our walking?

Overactive muscles are unhelpful because 

they contribute to the accumulation of factors

which can lead to aches, pains, stiffness and tightness.

So, what am I really saying?

I am saying that it is worth looking at our walking 

to see if we have overactive muscles

which may be contributing to our aches, pains, stiffness and/or tightnesses.

Effecting, for example, our low back, upper back, hips, knees, 

and anywhere connected.

How can we test for overactive muscles while walking you might ask?

I have an example for you to try - testing for overactive back muscles.

You can try right now if you would like.

The video below shows how this client learned to improve his walking »

In summary,

we place our fingers firmly on the muscles either side of the spine in our low back

we feel soft muscles, 

or we change our position or posture until they are soft,

as soft muscles indicate a release of strain.

We take steps and feel for any hard muscle contractions,

which is overactivation.

This is where the muscles suddenly contract

and feel like a hard bulge under our fingers.

Often these occur in alternating contractions with each step.

We can change our walking technique to keep these muscles soft 

by smaller steps, softer landing, higher knees etc.

When we keep these muscles soft 

we are more skilful at our walking.

We are also minimising the accumulation of factors

which can lead to aches, pains, stiffness and tightness.

I recommend giving this a try for yourself and seeking help from a professional if you would like to achieve optimal muscle activation during walking.

Take care not to do anything that increases pain or symptoms.

You may find this is helpful straight away.

You may find something is blocking ideal control,  

and this strategy won't work until the blocking is removed with treatment.

You may find you need help to find the individual variation that suits you.  

I am offering free feedback on your walking,

send me a video of your walking and I'll provide you with complimentary feedback and suggestions.