Niamh Shackleton
There are many things we can do wrong in life, and apparently walking is one of them.
I'm not sure about you, but I'm forever learning that I've been doing something completely wrong - turning food items while cooking being one.
For the longest time, I thought this cooking instruction meant turning the food itself (fries, for example), but it turns out it actually means to turn the baking tray 180 degrees to ensure that what ever is being cooked is done so evenly.
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But it's not just cooking we can get wrong; Joanna Hall, a sports scientist and the founder of the WalkActive method, claims we're walking wrong as well.
Speaking to the New York Post, she revealed the four ways we're walking incorrectly.
Personally, I wouldn't really know which muscles I was using when walking, but apparently if you feel a twinge in your lower back, then that's a sign you're walking wrong.
“The first mistake people make is overusing their hip flexor muscles, which are naturally tight,” Hall said.
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“We actually want to be tapping into our posterior chain,” she added. These are the muscles running from the upper back down to the calves.
By leaning too much on your hip flexors and pulling your glutes and abs, it apparently tightens things up and makes your stride length shorter.
As per Bristol Nordic Walking, passive foot strike is 'where the foot hits the ground more or less flat instead of articulating from the heel to the toes'.
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“Not only does this compromise the ability of the body to cushion the impact and transfer the force, it also jars and stresses the whole of your skeleton,” its website further explains.
Going into more detail about how this is wrong, the sports scientist told NYP: “Wherever we have a joint, we’re meant to have movement. But when we walk wrong - because we have a passive foot strike and overuse our hip flexors - it negates our ability to use all the joints in our feet.”
READ MORE:
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MAN WHO WALKED 250,000 STEPS IN A WEEK SHOCKED AFTER REVEALING WHAT IT DID TO HIS BODY
Impacts this type of walking can have on the body include pain and discomfort in the knees in particular, and preventing the hamstrings from functioning properly which would further throw off walking mechanics.
We're all guilty of looking down at our phones as we stroll along the sidewalk, and this could be affecting our walk, says Hall.
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“People tend to lean forward from the head,” she said. “This has huge implications on the way the body moves.”
If our head is leaning forward while we can, it can strain on the muscles in your upper back, limiting the spine’s ability to rotate fully.
“We want to encourage rotation of the spine because it improves our mobility and our posture,” Hall continued.
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Tilting your head forward also limits the amount of oxygen you take in because the diaphragm's movement is reduced.
Maybe it's time to finally try out the Gen Z trend of 'silent walking'?
Have you ever tried to run without using your arms? If you have, you'll know how difficult it is, and the same applies to when you walk.
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“When the arm doesn’t do anything, we’re losing out on the ability to have whole body movement,” Hall shared.
“It specifically limits our ability to utilize the abdominal muscles and create shape around the waistline.”
Apparently using your arms also helps you burn more calories too.