When walking backwards, the angles of the hip, knee and ankle change, as well as the load on the joint is distributed differently.
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Walking backwards is like one of those childhood games where you end up falling on your butt and laughing a lot. But if we call it retro walkbecomes a viral fad that appears on social media and the media presents it as the latest fashion trend. aptitude. The promise is tempting: more muscle, less back pain, more calories burned. But does it work for everyone?
When we walk backwards, we test the coordination between the brain and the musculoskeletal system. Walking (forward) involves dropping, but stopping the fall with the other leg before landing on your face. We do it automatically. But walking backwards requires concentration: we can’t look at our cell phone or have a conversation as easily.
Who can benefit from walking backwards?
A clinical trial in people with knee osteoarthritis compared walking forward to walking backward on a treadmill. The group that walked backwards had good results: less pain, better knee function and more strength in the quadriceps, compared to the group that walked forward on the treadmill.
When walking backwards, the angles of the hip, knee and ankle change, as well as the load on the joint is distributed differently. A gait analysis study found that the range of motion of the knee and hip was reduced when walking backwards, thereby changing the forces placed on the joint. This, which seems forced, can be beneficial for people with knee injuries.
For physiotherapist Sergio González Arganda, “the justification is given by the muscle groups that are activated when walking backwards, but I can activate these same muscle groups or I can work them in another way”.
The studies go beyond knee problems. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found that reverse walking exercise programs produced improvements in body composition, cardiopulmonary and metabolic health, but the researchers themselves indicated that the evidence was very limited. It is difficult to distinguish whether a person is improving because they are walking backwards or simply because they are doing controlled exercises.
In other work with obese people, “backward walking” on a treadmill produced a greater reduction in body mass index, lower blood pressure and less inflammation than walking forward, but taking into account that the effort is greater when walking backward, these results could be achieved by walking forward with greater intensity.
Walking backwards seems to be a good strategy for people who want to improve their balance, especially when recovering from an injury and among older adults. A meta-analysis found that this training improved the stability and walking speed of people with Parkinson’s disease or in rehabilitation after a stroke.
However, this also has nuances. “In unstable patients, imbalance strategies can sometimes generate more instability. For example, I worked with the bosu (an inflatable half-sphere) to treat ankle imbalances, but it has now been shown that it works well for the hip, but not for the ankle,” says González.
A specific exercise for rehabilitation
Social media influencers seem to rely on both these studies and a classic 1997 study that found that walking backwards consumed more oxygen (and therefore more calories) than walking forwards. In other words, it costs more and increases your heart rate more, which is consistent with the instability and extra attention this activity requires.
Many studies on the benefits of walking backwards do not have healthy people as subjects, but, as we have seen, those who suffer from different health problems, from osteoarthritis to Parkinson’s disease, and the use of this therapy is framed in treatment or rehabilitation. If something improves, we can’t know whether it’s by going backwards or by putting more time and effort into the movement. Additionally, these studies have small samples and no long-term follow-up.
An article published by McGill University, known for its research in sports science and physiotherapy, highlights the limitations of these interventions and why it is not possible to generalize. According to his careful analysis, “a generous interpretation of the limited literature would be that the incorporation of backward walking, in a physiotherapy-guided program and in combination with conventional treatment, may provide benefits to people with previous knee problems.” »
There is also the issue of security. Walking backwards increases the effort, but also the risk of falling if done without adequate means. In 2000, the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation published a study titled “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back,” warning of fall risks in geriatric patients when they walk backwards and stumble, requiring the supervision of two therapists.
“It seems that the more circus there is, the more visual it is, the more effective it is, but that is not the case,” says González. “You are sending very contradictory messages to the central nervous system, which can even be harmful, beyond the risk of harming yourself,” he adds.
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