Last year, international bloggers on TikTok often mentioned how good walking backwards on a treadmill was for them.
Fitness blogger @chaysembyrd said that thanks to the exercise, she improved coordination, posture, and the health of her knees and other joints in six months. The social network star with the nickname @jayoffline also shared that walking backwards helped pump up the legs and had a good effect on the ability to maintain balance and the health of the knees.
The unusual exercise is praised by those who practice chiropractic, a non-scientific method of treatment. For example, Dr. Alan Mundell with 8 million subscribers on YouTube advised Walk backwards 50 minutes a week to strengthen muscles, relieve joint pain, improve posture and burn 30% more calories. And chiropractor Matt Weist mentioned that he recommends this exercise to patients with knee pain.
We decided to figure out whether walking backwards really helps, who it’s suitable for and how to do it correctly.
Is walking backwards really good for your health?
This exercise is used in physical therapy to solve several problems.
Dmitry Sumin
Cardiologist-rehabilitation specialist, senior doctor at the Three Sisters Early Rehabilitation Clinic.
Back walking is one test that physical therapists use when assessing a patient’s condition. In particular, its balance and coordination. If the doctor sees that walking backwards is impossible or involves a risk of falling, he may decide that the patient needs some kind of accompaniment or support.
The exercise can also be used for rehabilitation, but, again, only in certain cases.
Can walking with your back improve your knees?
Moving backwards, people do shorter steps, bend your knees less and don’t move them to the side as much. All this reduces the load on the joints.
So far the results are only one experiment have proven the benefits of this exercise for the knees.
During the study, patients with osteoarthritis performed reverse walking for 10 minutes three times a week. After six weeks of training, their knees hurt less and worked better than people in the control group.
However, one small experiment is not enough to recognize the exercise as effective. Especially for all people, and not just for middle-aged patients with osteoarthritis. Moreover, in addition to walking forward, the participants performed a standard rehabilitation program: squats, leg presses and static exercises to strengthen the leg muscles.
Dmitry Sumin
Walking with your back in itself makes sense and is effective for those patients who have difficulties with this particular skill. Ordinary people who are not in rehabilitation can use it simply to practice coordination. You shouldn’t count on great results in terms of preventing any diseases.
Does walking backwards affect your sense of balance?
In three Chinese experiments 30 minutes of reverse walking three times a week helped people after stroke regain a sense of balance, improve leg function and speed of movement.
There is even a small study with healthy people showing that the exercise had a positive effect on balance while walking.
Another question is how much this will help healthy people in everyday life. Unless you suffer from problems with gait and balance, you are unlikely to notice much of a difference after such training.
If you’ve had a stroke and are looking to quickly regain limb function, ask your physical therapist to recommend exercises.
Does walking backwards help you lose weight?
Moving backwards, you do taking shorter and more frequent steps, and also using muscles that are not normally used when walking. All this increases the load on the brain and muscles and allows you to burn more calories than if you go the usual way.
Researchers discoveredthat, moving forward at a speed of 5 km/h, you can increase your heart rate to 113 beats per minute, and moving backwards to 132 beats per minute. Since the indicator is directly related to the number of calories burned, we can conclude that the exercise is indeed more energy-consuming than regular walking.
But in another experiment, where scientists tested the effect of reverse walking on football referees, did not have differences in heart rate. Perhaps because the referees often performed this movement in matches and got used to it.
But despite this, the reverse walk still required more energy than the usual one. Walking facing forward at a speed of 6 km/h, participants spent about 1.8 kcal/minute, and walking backwards – 5.6 kcal/minute.
So, if you don’t want to or can’t run, reverse walking can actually burn more calories than walking at the same speed. But whether it will help you lose weight is a big question.
Dmitry Sumin
If a study found that walking backwards burns more calories, this does not at all prove that doing this exercise regularly will help you lose weight. It is possible to seriously claim any health benefits only after serious research, long and extensive.
Can walking backwards cause harm?
Walking backwards is unlikely to harm a healthy person. At least if you choose the right speed and hold on to the handrails.
If you have difficulty maintaining balance, are recovering from a lower extremity injury, or suffer from joint pain, you should not prescribe this exercise without consulting a physical therapist.
A load that is not suitable for you can result in a fall, a new injury, or worsening pain.
How to walk backwards
To perform the exercise safely, do the following:
- Stand on the treadmill with your back to the monitor. If your machine has a safety key, clip it onto your T-shirt or shorts.
- Turn on the lowest speed and, holding the handrails, begin to walk backwards.
- Place your feet on your toes and gently roll onto your heels as your knee straightens.
- If you feel more confident, you can increase your speed to 3–4 km/h.
- When you decide to stop, turn off the treadmill, but continue walking until the treadmill comes to a complete stop.
To begin with, it is better to walk for 5 to 10 minutes at a speed of about 3 km/h. In the future, you can increase the speed to 5–6 km/h, and the operating time to 30 minutes.
Try more exercises to improve your health 🧐