How to Improve Your Walking Technique
Walking has many benefits beyond being a mood booster, being excellent for mental health, and the physical improvements it provides. Useful walking technique aids with better breathing, less stress put on the body, and limited aches and pains post-exercise. The key to excellent walking techniques relies on some simple adjustments to form and active motion. In the following paragraphs, we’ll explain ways to improve your walking technique and have fewer injuries from doing so.
Assess and adjust your posture
Posture is something that continually needs to be assessed and adjusted. Even after a few months of inactivity, you may notice your shoulders bowing forward or your feet turning out when they shouldn’t. Great walking technique posture consists of engaging your core, taking full deep breaths, and letting your legs and buttocks create a natural stride for your body. On the flip side, poor walking posture leads to body aches and pains and could be the reason for you to stop enjoying a lovely pastime.
Adjusting your walking posture includes the following:
Standing up straight
Lifting tall like a string is attached to your head pulling you to the sky
Not arching your back
Engaging core muscles and sucking your stomach in slightly
Focusing on roughly 15-20 feet in front of you, so your head follows where your eyes are looking
Keeping your chin parallel to the ground
Keeping shoulders back and relaxed to relieve tension
While it may seem like a lot to remember, the body relies on muscle and form memory. If you continue to take the above steps to adjust your posture each time you go for a walk, you should experience a limited amount of stress on your body, creating fewer aches and pains post-exercise.
Use proper arm motion
Learning better walking techniques will help you walk more safely and further with less pain.
Proper arm motion while walking helps your body burn more calories and stay balanced as you go. Keep elbows bent at 90 degrees. Do not clench fists—instead, partially close hands. Try not to flap your arms like chicken wings, as that will cause imbalance and overexertion in a way that’s not beneficial to propelling your body forward.
When choosing how to move your arms, keep them close to your body. They should not cross your body’s center point or move above your breastbone. The idea is to keep arm motions small, but powerful as a means to balance and propel your body. If you feel like your arm motions are more tiresome than helpful, do them only for a few minutes and then rest your arms by your sides. You got this!
Roll from heel to toe
Having the right shoes while walking is just as important as how your foot hits the ground when walking. No matter what you do with your walking posture, having shoes with too little support or not building the proper muscles appropriate to the amount of activity you do will harm your posture and the benefits you gain from this exercise. A common rule of thumb is to strike the ground first with your heel and then roll through your step to your toe. Once you get to your toe, push off and let your other leg then strike heel first and repeat.
Pro Tip: Rolling from heel to toe is different than just heel-striking! When changing up your gait, pay attention to if you are hitting your heel first and not rolling through your foot. Merely using your heel as the striking and pushing off point causes sciatic and knee problems commonly throughout the patients we see.
Walking is a must in most day to day lives, so your technique must work for you and your body. By making simple improvements to your posture, arm motions, and the way you use your feet to propel you forward, you should be walking pain-free and happy in no time!
