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The WALKING Mistake Almost Everyone Makes
- chelsie462
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/UAD4fDySvFA
Mike: There's a walking mistake most people make and they're not even aware of, and it can increase your pain in your ankles, knees, hips, SI joint, and low back.
Brad: Now this can actually contribute to one of these problems or all of them, so we're going to discuss what the problem is and how to fix it.
Mike: Now, the big mistake most people make when walking is actually landing with a heel strike and a locked-out knee, just like this.
Brad: That's right. Now, what this also causes is something we call gluteal amnesia. In other words, the glute maximus muscle does not fire, which changes the mechanics of the hip and can contribute to hip pain. And then the impact of actually the heel strike puts impact forces through the ankle joint, the knee joint, the hip, as well as the back, which can cause pain in one or all of the above.
Mike: So what we want to try to do instead is land with a bent knee like this and not with your heel straight out in front of you.
Mike: Most people, when they walk, put their foot out in front of them, come over the top, and then maybe go behind a little bit. What we want to do is take a shorter step, landing with a bent knee and then engaging your glute to fire and push back behind you when you are walking. We'll get into a little more detail about how you can do this, especially if you're new to it. So, a good reminder not to lock your knee out when you initially start is to actually place some tape behind your knee. We have K tape here; you can certainly use other tapes as well. Just make sure not to leave it on too long if you have sensitive skin. When you're doing this, you're going to want to keep your leg slightly bent. That way, when I go to straighten my knee out like that, if my old habit kicks in, the tape will remind me and pull on the back of my leg, cueing me to have a bent knee. So Brad will put it on me quickly.
Brad: Right. So if you're not sure what K tape is, it's Kinesio tape; it actually stretches, and it works quite well for this. But you can use pretty much any tape, even if it doesn't stretch. It's really important that the knee is slightly flexed. Flex there about 10 degrees. I like to start at the top, and then we're going to pull it, not really tight, but get the slack out, and with the, if you do kinesio tape, you can stretch it probably about 50%. Get it on there, make sure it's stuck well. If you have hairy legs, well, it'll be more fun when you take them off, and it'll actually remind you that your knee is straight, so it actually works a little better. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike: If you're doing this by yourself, I typically would long sit when I first started doing this, and then tape it on the back or the knee. It has a slight bend in it as well.
Brad: All right, so then you just simply leave it on and walk all day, which will remind you to keep the weight on the forefoot and avoid an impactful heel strike.
Mike: Now, we do want to mention, you want to tape up both knees, not just one side versus the other. And all of this actually came from a physical therapist named Rick Olderman, whom we often work with. If you want to find his work, you can go to RickOlderman.com. Now, the next thing we're going to talk about is how to initially start walking with a soft or bent knee because it often feels odd if you've been walking your whole life with your leg out in front of you and heel striking. So for beginners, what we commonly recommend if you're able to, start on your tippy toes; if you can't, it's okay if you have to be flat on your feet. But when you're walking, try walking your normal way, but place your hands on your buttocks. We suggest doing this in your house so you don't look weird around your neighbors.
Brad: It is weird, and it looks weird, so do it in your house, yeah.
Mike: So if you're walking with a normal heel strike, we also recommend doing this either barefoot or with slippers on. Because most shoes have elevated heels, which will naturally make you want to heel plant.
Brad: But why are we grabbing our buttocks, Mike?
Mike: We are grabbing our buttocks to begin because you can see maybe your glutes firing a little bit, but you're not noticing a whole lot. Now, if you try going on your tippy toes and you start walking and landing, you'll notice your glutes are engaging much more, and you should feel the muscles contracting. That's why your hands are on your butt.
Brad: Right. If you haven't done that before, it takes a little bit, but you'll get to know when those muscles kick in, and it becomes second nature, and you say, "Oh, I get it now".
Mike: Now you don't have to walk on tiptoes the rest of your life, just take 20, 30 steps in your house. Or if you can't get on your tiptoes, you can certainly just land with a flat foot; that is perfectly fine. You just don't want to get your foot way out in front of you with that heel strike.
Brad: Right. I think this is really obvious. I know myself, if I'm barefoot and I'm walking on a tile or concrete surface, it's very clear when I heel strike versus forefoot strike, it's probably the best way to teach yourself, in my opinion.
Mike: Now, another important component to walking is having strong glute muscles. You have three glute muscles on each side: your glute medius and minimus on the outside of your hip, and you have your glute maximus. We already addressed the glute max with walking; however, we will show an exercise on how to do that after this one. This exercise is going to strengthen your glute medius and minimus. This is important because these muscles keep you upright when you walk. If they did not function properly, you would sway.
Mike: That's the extreme version, but it can happen to some people. So we're going to strengthen the glute medius muscles right now. For beginners, you don't need any resistance; you can certainly hold onto a chair, countertop, or stick if you need support. I'm just going to pull up my shorts a little bit here so you can see. I'm standing with a bent knee here. I'm going to kick one leg out to the side and back in. We're going to aim for 10 to 15 repetitions. Notice I'm not swaying over to the side, keeping my pelvis nice and neutral as I do this. I'm not trying to rest my right leg as I'm kicking it out on the ground. So, working on your balance and strength a little bit. Once you do one side, make sure to do the other. You can do this two to three times a day. Again, good posture, slow, controlled movement. No turning your leg out to the side.
Brad: Okay, now if you want to have some resistance because going without any is too easy, working some resistance bands like this really helps, where Mike is using a loop band, either one works very well. Simply stand on the band, keeping your feet about a foot apart, and you can change your resistance simply by stretching the band more or changing where you put your feet in the band. You'll figure that out with some practice. And again, good posture, out to the side, toe pointed forward.
Brad: With the band, if you turn your toe to the side, the band simply comes off, and you know your mechanics are wrong. If you're losing your balance, simply go up against the wall, and that'll be very helpful. There we go. Anything else, Mike, with the loop band? Was it any different?
Mike: Oh yeah, it's harder, it's more resistance. So start with the easy bands, progress to the harder bands. Once you can do 15 reps easily without a band or with the easy band, then progress to the next step.
Brad: Right. And again, emphasis on good posture and slow, controlled movement.
Mike: Okay, next, we're going to get into glute pumps, how to strengthen your glute max.
Brad: Glute pumps.
Mike: Now, for glute strengthening, we're going to show two variations, because we realize some people are not comfortable getting on their hands and knees. So I'm going to be on my forearms in this position. I'm going to work my left leg here. We're not going to do a full glute pump all the way up to the ceiling; we're going to go kind of halfway in between, and we're going to do little oscillating movements. Shoot for 30 repetitions total. You need three sets of 10, two sets of 15, and one set of 30. Whatever works for you. If you're not feeling your glute engaging much and maybe your hamstring's kicking in too much or your lower back, try to turn your foot in like this.
Mike: This will help isolate the glute max a little bit more. And you can begin like this. Make sure to do this on both legs. If this becomes easy over time, you can take a cuff weight. You're going to put it around your thigh region. Put it on your thigh region like this, and then again, you're going to do the same option, and you should definitely feel more resistance this way.
Brad: Now Mike's demonstrating it on this plinth, which would be kind of like a bed. You can do it on your bed, probably best on a carpeted floor or with a mat. Now, if being on your hands and knees like that is not comfortable, you can do this in a standing position, up by a cupboard or a table, something that's solid you can put your hands on or to your forearms. I'm going to use my hands, because this is a little bit lower than a typical cupboard. Bend the knee at 90 degrees. And again, the same motion that Mike talked about, not way up to way down, in that mid-range and working repetitive motions, not too fast. Rotate in like this to get more isolation of that glute maximus. Go 30 seconds or 30 to 40 reps. You can count it. And make sure you do both legs. And there you go.
Mike: So make sure to do that exercise as well, two to three times a day, 30 reps total each time. And if you would like to check out more videos on how to improve your walking, or you're still having some discomfort, you can check out the video, "#1 Reason You Should Walk Backwards 1x / day (15 min)."
Brad: Now that is interesting.
Mike: It is very interesting. You have to watch it, we're not telling you anymore.
Brad: No, it is a very excellent video with good ideas.
Mike: I wasn't going to tell them anymore. Too late.
Brad: Yep, yep, yep, yep.
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