Backward walking fitness challenge

Injury is never pleasant for the professional athlete, the weekend athlete, or anyone
participating in an exercise program for improved fitness and overall good health.

However, when such a misfortune occurs, one typically has to spend some time
rehabilitating the injured tissues and/or systems which suffered the over-stress. Not
only is injury a concern, but prevention of injury is also an issue, especially as one
grows older.

The purpose of this blog article is to overview the modality of backward walking as a
component of the rehabilitation program for many lower extremity injuries and/or for
injury prevention. In doing so, we will identify the features of backward walking
from a rehabilitation perspective, and also suggest an exercise routine to incorporate
which may be of benefit for many active individuals.

Primary Benefits / Differences
Backward walking, like forward walking, is an activity in which one always maintains
contact with the ground (unlike running, which has an airborne phase). Consequently,
the force to the body at impact is minimal in walking compared to jogging or running.
This alone can be a benefit if one is suffering from an impact-type injury which could
manifest as a sore knee, stress fracture, or similar problem. To this end, walking
(forward or backward) could be a means to maintain cardiovascular fitness without
risking further force-related trauma to the lower extremities.

The kinematics, or patterns, of walking forward are somewhat different than those of
walking backward. Some of the differences can be observed visually, while others
(activation patterns of muscles; specific joint angle differences) have been quantified
scientifically. We will synthesize the information that we have learned in order to make it more practical for general understanding.

We can summarize the differences between forward and backward walking as follows:
• Reduced knee joint range of motion
• Hamstring muscles 'pre-stretched'prior to loading


The implications of the differences between forward and backward walking are of
primary importance in understanding any given exercise routine. As stated previously,
backward walking reduces significantly the "impact" force upon contact, due to the
reduced stride length, foot contact pattern, and lower extremity kinematic pattern. Range of motion at the knee joint is reduced during backward walking incorporating a nearly isometric pattern following contact compared to a more stressful eccentric loading. This can be
especially advantageous for rehabilitation of knee joint injuries. In addition during
backward walking, the hamstrings (muscles along the back of the thigh) are stretched
prior to activation in thigh reversal and contact due to hip flexion. Given this prestretch,
any additional load, as is introduced during weight bearing / backward walking,
is in the form of an added load / stretch upon the muscle group, which can be helpful in
both rehabilitation and training scenarios.

Advantages include reduced ground reaction forces at contact, limited range of motion at the knee joint (advantageous during knee injury rehabilitation), augmented stretch of the hamstrings muscle group during the stride and the potential of proprioceptive / balance control training during activity. For these reasons, we suggest backward walking as an additional component to an intervention /rehabilitation program as well as an augmentation to an overall fitness program.

Your challenge is to walk 1 mile backwards