Improve your walking technique
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* Learning a new walking technique is super hard, it takes at least months, if not even years.
* Wearing barefoot shoes and walking forefoot strike seemed to significantly decrease my lower back pain (although I’m not a 100% certain if there is a correlation, I just know that my back pain decreased a few months after switching to barefoot shoes)
* Got rid of my neck pain completely (I’m extremely certain that there is a correlation here, because my posture changed, more on that in a later point)
* I realized that my leg muscles (especially hamstrings and calves) are extremely tight and possibly also shortened. In the beginning I had trouble to get my heel to the ground without feeling tension in the calves.
* Just because I adapted my style of walking, my posture increased significantly. I walk and stand way more upright than before (I compared recent pictures to older pictures)
* Significantly decreases the number of migraine attacks. I’m also quite sure this is because of the forefoot strike (although not 100% certain) since heel strike puts a lot of pressure in the neck and head. You can easily Test or experience this Stress on the neck and head yourself if you stick your fingers in your ears and walk barefoot with heel strike over firm ground. You should “hear” it. For me it works best when I put in noise cancelling over ear headphones and walk heel strike (no music, just the noise canceling effect).
Of course all of this is highly subjective and many/all things I described may not correlate at all. This is just my personal experience.
I started with Vibram FiveFingers, but switched to proper barefoot after a short while. If you can do proper barefoot in your area, it's more fun.
Always work barefoot at home, if you don't already do that.
Then just start walking outside. Watch some youtube videos on how to do it and just experiment and adjust the way you walk all the time (to give you a bit of perspective, occasionally I even play around with my walking style today, 2 years after starting). I tried to see it a bit like a stretching exercise in the beginning. If I felt a stretch of tight muscles (usually calves), I assumed that "I did it correctly"; like in stretching, where you only feel a deep stretch if you do it correctly. But important note: This only worked for me because my calves were indeed tight. If this is not the case for you, this analogy won't work for you.
But most importantly, listen to your body(!) and don't be afraid to look stupid in public (experimenting with your way of walking, while learnign a new way walking, will definitely get noticed by others the beginning; at least that was the case for me).
Go walk outside without them on something mildly unpleasant, like "chipseal" pavement or gravel for short distances - the increased feedback will encourage you to walk gently (advice stolen from Barefoot Ken Bob's book, which is rather nice).
Take it slow. Don't feel like you have to go 100% minimal-shoe all the time. Take your shoes off at home. Maybe get a pair of thin sandals - I personally like Xero Shoes (they also sell a kit if you're into that, and they're one of the only pairs of sandal I've had that actually last for multiple years). Moccasins are also lovely, if you can find some with a thick sole (or buy some buffalo hide and DIY!).
Minimal shoes don't last any longer and generally aren't any cheaper than regular shoes in my experience - getting comfortable with your feet on the ground when possible is the cheapest long-term option.
In addition, another benefit of running with a forefoot strike is to keep momentum while leaning forward and avoid jarring pressure going up your leg on each strike as you run. For example, if I try to land on my heel when running barefoot it physically does not feel right and when I do it the collision hurts. But walking barefoot and landing on the heel feels completely natural and pain-free - the step is very light and the contact point is maybe slight-heel-bias-to-midfoot, nothing like slamming a heel into the ground while running. When walking you do not create as much pressure through your heel unless you really stomp down on it for some reason.
We have some research showing potential benefits of running on your forefoot - does any such research exist for walking as well?
Is it really the case that you lean slightly forward when walking forefoot strike? For me it's the opposite, my posture is way more upright in forefoot strike than it is in heel strike.
When I walk (or run) heelstrike, I usually put one leg forward and "fall" on that leg, which causes me to lean forward a bit.
When I walk (or run) forefoot strike, I do the opposite. I slide one leg backwards and thus push my whole body forward. My other leg lands directly under my body, I don't have to stick it out much to land on it, compared to heel strike.
Try to walk in heel strike very very slowly (like in slo-mo), maybe you'll feel that "falling" sensation and lean forward like I do. But it could also be that you walk slightly different than I do and don't experience the same.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any research, but I also don't actively search for it.
There's also some interesting anthropological work by Esther Gokhale about gaits in indigenous peoples indicating that heel-first walking is natural, but very different from the gait induced by cushy shoes - no slamming on the heel, place the front heel on the ground while the back foot still supports all of your weight. She does sell books and workshops, but I found her book at the library, tried out the exercises, seemed legit.
Anyway, YMMV! Don't take my word for it; check out the primary sources, etc. If forefoot walking works long term for you, then go for it - one of my in-laws only walks on her forefeet /shrug.
PT = Physical Therapist
(for those who don't know the initials.)
The Vivo's are definitely not in the vibram five finger look, nor were other brands I tried.
[0] Toe box: Front part of the shoe, were the toes are. Here's a comparison of a regular shoe and a barefoot shoe. If you follow the link below, you can see that the toe box of the barefoot shoe is significantly wider. https://www.botyluks.cz/user/documents/upload/Rozd%C3%ADl%20...
I guess that this might strongly vary with age. Anecdotally, the two times I consciously adapted a new gait, it went pretty quick:
- At around age 13 I adapted a "bouncy" gait with outward pointing toes, because I thought that it looked cook (cringe). Took about a week IIRC.
- Around 17 I switched to what I would call a standard gait (toes pointed straight ahead), because I was afraid my previous gait would cause bowlegs (probably an unfounded fear). Took me about two days (with a lot of walking though), and also had the benefit of better posture in general
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o&t=3m05s
I think they might have been Adidas
I recommend "Squat Clinic 101" video to address this issue
Why do I want my walk to leak less energy / be more efficient? A fast walk is nowhere near my aerobic limit, so what would be the benefit of using less energy? Having a sedentary job, I generally need more exercise, not less.
A better thing to optimize for would be less impact on knees and back.
If walking isn't near your aerobic limit then you'd be much better off doing something else for exercise than making your stride less efficient.
Walking as a kind of meditation or just to relax might be quite valuable. Then, the more efficient (relaxed) the better.
On the other hand, I also have more fun riding my summer bike and therefore ride it further and farther (eg, choosing it for errands above and beyond my commute). So I think the performance gain is still a win for my exercise regimen.
TBH, the real driver on getting a second ride was just having the fatter wheels that would accommodate studded tires, which are a total godsend for riding on icy and snowy roads.
I have osteoporosis, and my endocrinologist told me to do weight-wearing exercises, including running. For me, we _needed_ high impact exercises to strengthen the bones.
If you're going to be just walking, the slight impact might very well be something you need. Different goals for every body, but I'm just saying this out loud so that "less impact for knees" doesn't become a goal for folks who read that statement.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/osteoporosis/...
You may be an exceptional case, but your should mention that.
Mayo Clinic isn't as good as you might think when it comes to musculoskeletal issues. They're great with infectious diseases though. In this case, I'd take caution with their thoughts on osteoporosis.
For example, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. For the longest time Mayo Clinic denied it was a real condition. Then they agreed that 1/3 types was a real condition. Now they accept all types, or at least say they do, but try to chase away a large amount of people that have it for some reason. Finally, their surgery/treatment protocols are statistically quite bad now that they've started treating it. They've ruined a good amount of people's lives with bad surgical methods related to the syndrome... On the other hand, Boston Massachusetts General Hospital excels at musculoskeletal issues, especially thoracic outlet syndrome.
This is coming from somebody diagnosed with TOS at Mayo Clinic, going to MGH for surgical options as the average review from people having treatment at Mayo was terrible. Mass Gen. found that my case was much worse than Mayo had reported in their notes, and that their treatment protocol would've made me quite worse. Mass Gen. attempts a large amount of re-do surgeries for this syndrome with surprisingly good outcome, and people who had bad surgery at Mayo Clinic are their largest percentage of re-do's.
Just a thought I think should be out there. Like most institutions it would seem, Mayo is really good at some things... And really bad at others.
it's one of the major reasons joint replacements fail: because the replaced joint is taking too much stress away from the surrounding bone, which then weakens, and eventually breaks under stresses it can no longer sustain.
You 100% want to be moving correctly. Correct, efficient movement also helps with injuries. They’re related.
Once you are moving correctly, getting more exercise injury free is trivial. You just work longer, heavier or faster. You don’t need to move inefficiently (and probably incorrectly) to “get more exercise”.
To keep things simple with two easy to follow steps:
1. Tall posture, imagine a balloon is tied to the top of your head and is pulling you upwards.
2. Download a metronome app to your phone and set it around 170 and in time climb up to 175 180 if it feels ok. You then want to time each foot strike to a beep. This will cause your stride to narrow and discourage an overstride. When you overstride the foot extends forwards and the force of landing gets absorbed by your knee / hips, which is inefficient (its almost like applying a break) and it can cause injury. Running at a high cadence tends to make you ligter on your feet and encourages a good foot strike (under the cartridge of the hips), landing in this way benefits from the elasticity we have in our tendons and you get a certain amount of energy return from this.
This video describes it very well and the runner has beautiful form. Just don't try to take it all in, focus on the cadence 170-175-180 rhythm and get that right first
For me a fast very short step on varied ground worked best to slow down.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0gXKdNPW-2U/V4EW8HkpSfI/AAAAAAAAi...
I’m not a runner. Don’t know what the running community recommends.
There isn't a single mention of it on Wikipedia, and as far as I can tell few serious runners use it.
It’s a structured way to change your running style. The guy also has some opinions.
I did not do the actual Pose seminars (we did try though). Our coach did and was passing things on. We often looked at top runners to see what they were doing and tried to learn what we could.
If you want proof that this is the best way for everyone. Well, this is the fitness industry. You’re not going to get that! Listen to what they have to say if you think it could be useful for you. Give things a good try. If they work, keep them. If they don’t, discard them.
All I can say is that this method seems reasonable and now I can run on my bum knee with no problems.
In this case, it's not quite the same as when I've seen it in randomly in others. You can tell it's a little forced.
By walking inefficiently you aren't getting "more exercise" than walking efficiently.
why is that?
Then I managed to smash a vertibra in a climbing accident which meant spending the next two months learning how to do all of those things, including walking without putting strain on my spine.
There's a good book with the name Born To Run, one of the basic ideas presented is that the human body is a perfect running machine. You don't need to add anything, just stay out of its way and let it do what it was built for.
Here's what I would encourage anyone interested to try:
Start by balancing the spine sitting on the edge of a chair. Roll shoulders backward, relax the stomach, tilt the hip forward and pull the chin in until you feel your upper body is balancing on the root of the spine in your hip. Do a body scan and release any sign of muscle tension, the idea is to use bone structure and tendons to carry the weight. It should feel effortless, like the upper body is floating mid air.
Then repeat the same procedure standing up.
Now comes the slightly tricky part, unlearning the funny walk you've most likely been practicing your entire life. I recommend starting barefoot.
Keeping the same pose, and making sure not to tense any muscles, including the muscles in the feet; lean slightly forward. If you manage to do it without tensing, your body will start walking by itself and the feet will land exactly where/how they're supposed to. Leaning further increases the speed.
Adding muscles will increase the speed further. Just make sure the energy is directed backwards, pushing the body forward; and not straight down into the ground which is what people usually do when running, especially with bouncy shoes.
I was always walking on the right side of the city roads. This resulted in pain in my right leg because most weight was put on that side.
The solution was simple: also walk on the left side of the road. I never thought of this before.
Do we know if this is better? I mostly wear barefoot/minimalist shoes and have switched to mid/forefoot strike, from a heel strike.
20 years later and the shriek my girlfriend lets out when she turns around and I’m right there materializing behind her back like a ghost.
It’s amazing. Took about a week of conscious practice in middle school and now that’s just how I walk. Heel first when barefoot or in slippers makes my feet hurt.
and like your anecdote, I've had to be mindful of things like neighbors or coworkers in a hallway, going out of my way to scuff my feet or something while I'm still 10+ft out. people really don't like it when you register as instantaneously in their personal space.
I'm not sure if I've gone too far though, I got bursitis last year and my hip can feel a little tight when walking briskly for a while. Something is rolling around all wrong in there.
I've never really thought about it, but I also walk like that. When I lived in apartments, my downstairs neighbors probably loved me for that.
Edit: Can't find the original but this is similar. They say walking heel first is natural but you want a rolling gait, not a stomp like a lot of us do with shoes. That sounds like this article. They say running should be similar but with an even softer heel drop which is different to the other article that I remember, which I think looked at tribal south americans who didn't wear modern shoes.
"But (you might say) if you walk or run with no padding, it’s murder on your heels—which is precisely the point. Your heels hurt when you walk that way because you’re not supposed to walk that way. Wrapping your heels in padding so they don’t hurt is like stuffing a gag in someone’s mouth so they’ll stop screaming—you’re basically telling your heels to shut up."
It absolutely is for sprinting, even with shoes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-3cHxXAK0&start=46
I wonder if such an optimal gait could also be discovered for humans, perhaps for different heights, and when carrying different loads. Maybe the best way of walking for a person who is very tall is different from someone who is very short for instance. By constructing random human bodies and allowing them to evolve over millions of iterations, we may be able to discover unrealized walking techniques.
It is the weakening of the muscles that creates issues later in life, mostly due to lack of movement, gaining too much weight and similar.
My whole spine is straightened (from neck down, I have lost the natural lordosis of spine) because I've been sitting and looking at computer screens ever since I was a child. My spine is fine, I do not have any pain, but did start feeling pain in the upper back when I did not exercise for 3 years. Once I started exercising pain went away (still slouched and sat a lot).
Also, there's absolutely no way I could return back to natural lordosis of spine, my spine was straightened since I was 11 years old, my spine shape is the result of adaptation to prolonged sitting.
I find that walking “properly” wakes me up, has some positive effects on my well-being, and can be difficult at times. Unevenly paved surfaces (like some cobblestone pavements) seem to complicate walking “lazily”, forcing me into the proper way of walking.
[0] IMO articles like TFA tend to focus on those “cosmetic” characteristics, thus entirely missing the point.
On the other hand, if one aims to relax all limbs (that includes feet) and localize energy expenditures in the abs area as much as possible, “walking with hips” might well be the only remaining acceptable way to walk.
If you feel like you're carrying a load on your shoulders... your shoulders are gonna show that. If you feel like you have to clench and grind through your days, your jaw is going to show that. etc. etc.
A really interesting question to reflect on is when someone gains weight, what determines where the weight goes? Their stomach? Their thighs? Everywhere evenly distributed? etc.
A really nice realization arising from this basic mind-body connection is that if you have a handle on one, you have a handle on the other. Or, practicing the posture of well-being can help make you well.
You made an account just to post incorrect information about yoga?
I do agree bringing awareness is verrryyy helpful and healthy. the key is to keep being aware of what comes up for you and accept it and embrace it and get to know it and empathize with other postures/bodies to see how exactly your body _could_ feel differently and as you realize more and more what your body is really feeling, it'll naturally heal on its own. no need to step it and change things consciously, which never really does anything anyways cause your subconscious takes over as soon as your attention shifts away
the key thing to take away here is it's impossible to fully realize how your body actually feels without some psychological insights into yourself as well, to move some stuff from your subconscious to your conscious
like for example one can't fully realize how much anger their jaw is holding unless they also realize how much they feel angry about their life cause of something they haven't realized and have repressed
for anyone interested in reading more check out alexander lowen's books on amazon. fascinating, fascinating guy with lots of veryyyyy interesting things to say. any of his books will suffice really, i've read most of them
E.g. developing muscles, good posture and meditation help massively to build confidence which will help you all around e.g. to speak up at work.
Body-Mind is bidirectional and I would really recommend you try working on whichever angle you can start. There is no good life without a healthy body, but of course it's not the only thing.
if it's physical activity using will (like a droning gym routine) or meditation, i actually think it can lead to more stiffness and weirdness and awkwardness in a person's psychology
the body is not meant to be controlled by the mind
the objective is just to simply connect with the body more, not yell at it
But the highest priority by far remains doing the basic things. Regularly - in any weather in this case - without excuses. That is the core. All other issues are premature optimizations (or to be clear, no optimization at all)
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1301521
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1556-4029....
See the comments for every IF, keto, running is good, running is bad, weightlifting, etc. post on here.
I also don't think you should just blindly believe anyone, even M.D.s, without doing research yourself.
I’m quite skeptical that small changes in my walking will dramatically change the quality of my life. I think it would actual be annoying to think about and I’d rather be thinking about things that interest me while I pace around
Astonishing. My head's mass (or is it weight?) can be increased simply by moving it slightly it? Someone alert the physicists!
Physicists already know about relativistic mass. /s
Giving an exact figure implies they've done some calculation, and either their understanding of the physics is way off, or their arithmetic has gone far off the rails.
Wikipedia says: if the distance a from the fulcrum to where the input force is applied (point A) is greater than the distance b from fulcrum to where the output force is applied (point B), then the lever amplifies the input force.
So that says that you can get a higher output force than the input force, which in this case is the force applied due to gravity and mass (plus your walking motion).
If the mass is on the end of a lever, it will be heavier as it will require more force to keep it from falling toward the Earth.
If you treat the neck as a pivot point it can require more or less force to maintain position of the head.
So since it, as you nicely put it, does not need to be explained to the average reader, the complaint sounds like needless nitpicking.
Even "more weight in the neck" is imperfect — weight usually means mass, so "load", implying force, is better.
Thus I think it's acceptable to use the original wording to avoid all the technicalities that require a few parapgraphs to explain :)