Part One: Free Your Arms
Other than just getting you from point A to point B, walking is a great way to get exercise, relax your mind, and restore alternating rhythm in your body.
But how do you know you are walking well? And what can you do to get all these benefits mentioned above?
In this series of posts, I will go through five simple steps on how you can be a better walker, and by doing so restore freedom and flow in your body with every step.
Before we get into what you can do to walk better, let’s consider why you would even want to pay attention to how you walk.
Asymmetries Become Magnified
Walking is a symmetrical activity, but the body that does the walking is inherently asymmetrical.
We are asymmetrical in our internal anatomy but also in how we use our bodies. For example, we may always use the same hand to reach for something, always kick with the same leg, always read from left to right.
When we do a symmetrical activity like walking with an asymmetrical body, any asymmetries become magnified.
Inevitably, one leg will be more flexible or stronger, one arm will swing further or stay closer to your body (and yes your arms are involved in walking), and your brain will perceive the right and left sides of your world differently.
Soon we are no longer walking efficiently, no longer pumping air in and out evenly, and we start to create harmful torque on joints and tissues.
So what can you do to walk better?
- Free Your Arms
You can start with liberating your arms!
Arms are very important for walking. They provide a counter force and counter balance to the legs, and more importantly your shoulder blade on your ribcage provides a compressive downward force on the opposite leg as the arm swings back, providing your brain with an increased sense and awareness of the ground beneath you.
This tells your brain that you are safe and your whole body can relax into the flow of walking.
One simple thing you can do to walk better is to let your arms just do their thing. Of course you have to carry things sometimes, but try to walk a little bit each day without carrying anything.
Let your arms swing naturally.
That means no dog leashes, no groceries, etc. If you walk to work or school, consider wearing a well fitting backpack instead of a shoulder bag.
Make sure your hands are open (not clenched or in a fist). Don’t force your arms to swing, just let them move naturally with the rotation of your trunk.
What’s this about trunk rotation? Your trunk (i.e. ribcage) and pelvis rotate in opposite directions as we walk. While walking, the arms literally just hang off our torso. The arm swing is actually just a pendular motion of relaxed arms as the trunk rotates side to side.
So it’s not helpful to “make” your arms swing. Let them do what they do naturally, but make sure your trunk/torso is moving well.
This takes us to our next tip for walking better…
Twist your torso!
Stay tuned for how appropriate torso movement improves your walking.
Make sure you subscribe to the blog to get the next post with the second tip on walking better as soon as it is published 🙂
