It’s getting a little cooler outside, and with some snowy weather on the horizon many folks will opt for walking or running on a treadmill instead of getting outside.
Before you make that switch, read this blog… and you might just change your mind!
Optical Flow
When you walk outside, you experience what we call “optical flow.” That is a fancy way of saying when you move forward, your eyes and brain expect things around you to move backward.
“Expect” being the key word here. When we don’t sense the objects around us moving backward as we move forward, our brain doesn’t like that. You get a signal that says, “this isn’t right.”
And that creates systemic, low-level tension in your body.
You don’t want that!
Ground Sense
Similarly, when we experience objects moving past us as we move forward, it helps to sense the ground at the same time. When we walk (or run) on a treadmill, the floor sense is altered by the tread moving backwards relative to you.
This requires that your body do more pulling with hip flexors and back extensors instead of pushing with glutes, hamstrings, and abs.
Walking over ground, outside, restores normal balance and patterning so your body can experience push instead of pull…because too much pull when walking does what? Say it with me…
Creates systemic, low level tension in your body.
Are we seeing a theme here?
So What Should I Do?
Bundle up and go outside! Of course be careful of ice etc, but getting outside whenever you can is so beneficial.
While you’re out walking, notice things move past you in your peripheral vision as you sense your feet on the ground. Especially sense your heels if you are walking (and occasionally sense heels when running, too!)
You may notice it’s harder for you to sense objects moving back as you go forward on one side vs the other, e.g. it may be obvious on the right, but hard to sense on the left.
In this case, focus on feeling weight through your left foot, especially heel, as you notice objects move back on the left.
Correcting this imbalance can correct a lot of patterns that contribute to pain syndromes.
If you are avoiding ice or extreme weather and you choose to walk or run on the treadmill, don’t fret! Just walk around inside afterwards working on optical flow and ground sense as mentioned above to restore some balance.
Your blogs are wonderful! Your comments on how we humans walk without thinking are amazing. The one about how a person moves their hips (and belt buckles) when walking has done wonders in freeing up my pelvic movement when walking. So much more stability and balance to say nothing about improving the length of my stride on the left (somewhat weaker) side. Much more comfort and strength on that side, much less pain!!
Thanks so much Linda! Glad that it is helping you walk more freely and with less pain!