Lower Back Pain When Walking and Knee Pain When Walking Are Two of the Most Common Complaints As People Age.
Watch the video below for tips you can start using today to prevent knee, hip, & lower back pain when walking!
Click on the video below to learn more...
Learning To Walk Properly Can Prevent Knee Pain, Hip Pain, and Lower Back Pain When Walking!
Walking is a highly individualized activity. Everyone is built a little differently. We all have different size limbs, different foot types, etc. Therefore, what works for one person is not going to be the same as what works for another person. However, there are some common tips that help most people to walk more comfortably.
Here are some basic tips to prevent knee, hip, and lower back pain when walking:
- It all starts with your standing position.
- Roll your pelvis underneath of you
- Have a neutral spine: getting your back to where your spine is straight
(You may feel like you are slouched, but you really aren't!) - Lean forward until your body weight ALMOST makes you take a step forward
- Take a step hitting off the outside of your foot, then shift and push off your big toe
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How Do These Tips Prevent Lower Back Pain When Walking?
When you're standing TOO upright, the joints in your spine compress together and the spaces in your spine where the nerves come out (the "neuroforamina" neuro=nerve, foramen=opening) get smaller. This can cause lower back pain when walking, or even sciatica! By leaning forward slightly you take pressure off of the joints in your lower back and open the spaces where the nerves come out allowing you to walk more comfortably without lower back pain or sciatica.
How Do These Tips Prevent Hip Pain When Walking?
Hip pain when walking often occurs when you don't use your gluteal (buttock) muscles enough when walking. By squeezing your buttock muscle as your foot hits the floor, you activate your gluteal muscles and prevent the muscles and tendons in your hips (i.e. the infamous "IT band") from rubbing over your hip bone, thus preventing hip pain when walking!
How Do These Tips Prevent Foot & Ankle Pain When Walking?
By activating your gluteal muscles and hitting more on the outside of your foot, you prevent your foot from overpronating, you keep your arch from flattening. This can help prevent plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, and other ankle & foot pain when walking.
Is overpronating the only problem that happens in the foot when walking?
No. But it's the most common one. Sometimes not pronating enough can cause ankle & foot pain when walking too, but it's not as common. If you need individual help for foot pain when walking, click here.
How Do These Tips Prevent Knee Pain When Walking?
Most knee pain is not actually a problem with the knee.... usually it's a problem with the foot & ankle, hip, and/or lower back. The knee is just the thing in the middle getting beat up. The knee is the "symptom" but the "cause" is often elsewhere. By leaning forward slightly to take stress off of the lower back, activating the gluteal muscles, and hitting more on the outside of the foot and keeping the arch lifted, you prevent your knee from going inward and causing stress on your knee muscle and ligaments - thus preventing knee pain when walking.
Want more information? Find out more in our articles for Pain On Inside Of Knee or Hip Pain when running and walking.