8 Ways Walking Backwards Can Improve Your Health

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBenefitsDisadvantagesWho It’s Good ForHow to Get StartedIn Your Routine

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Benefits

Disadvantages

Who It’s Good For

How to Get Started

In Your Routine

Walking backwards for exercise, also called retro walking, has many research-proven benefits that can help improve flexibility, strength, and brain health. As an exercise drill, retro walking can be part of aphysical therapy rehabilitation program,or you can incorporate walking backwards into your fitness routine.

You might consider walking backwards using handrails or a treadmill—and you need to consider safety, especially if you’re doing it on your own.

Benefits of Backward Walking

Backward walking has a wide range of health benefits. This challenging exercise improves muscle and joint coordination, enhances balance, and improves physical endurance.

1. Works Different Muscles to Improve Their Strength

Backward walking uses muscles in your legs, helping to strengthen the following muscles:

2. Burns More Calories per Minute

If you are interested inwalking to lose weight, you might be pleased to know that walking backward uses up about 40% morecaloriesper minute than forward walking at the same speed.Retro walking can be an efficient use of your exercise time.

How Walking Can Help You Lose Weight

3. Builds Cardio Fitness

Walking backward has an energy expenditure rate that can increase cardiorespiratory fitness, which is the efficiency of your heart and lung function.It also lowers cardiovascular risk factors, reducing the risk of heart disease and vascular disease (conditions of your blood vessels).

In one experiment, participants who engaged in retro walking showed improvements in blood pressure,a strong indicator of cardiovascular health. They also showed improvements inC-reactive proteinvalues, which is a measure of inflammation.

4. Improves Balance

Backward walking has been shown to improve balance and stability, even among people who have experienced injury to their hips or legs.

5. Good for the Knees

Knee pain and inflammation are the most common effects of arthritis. One study comparing the effects of forward walking with retro walking for participants withknee osteoarthritisshowed that, among participants, retro walking led to a greater reduction in pain and functional disability and improved quadriceps muscle strength and performance.

6. Improves Flexibility

Backward walking conditions the muscles and joints, improving flexibility.Enhancing your flexibility is key to avoiding injury, and preventing falls, especially as you get older.

7. Works the Brain

Walking backward forces your brain to work a little differently than when walking forward, which promotes improved coordination.This is valuable if you are healthy or if you’re working through a physical rehabilitation program. In fact, backward walking can improve forward walking abilities when it’s a part ofrehabilitation after a stroke.

8. Improves Mobility

Backward walking increases speed and mobility in healthy adults, which can help you gain fitness and stay active.

It’s important to be mindful of safety when walking backward. Due to limited visibility while retro walking, you could trip over something behind you. And because walking backward isn’t the way we normally walk, you could accidentally miscalculate the distance or direction of your steps—which could cause you to fall.

If Walking Is the Only Exercise You Do, Is That Enough to Stay Healthy?

Who Should Walk Backwards and Who Should Avoid It?

You might consider adding backward walking to your exercise routine if you want to challenge yourself and use a different combination of muscles when you work out. You can also build balance and coordination that could come in handy during activities like yoga or dancing.

If you work out under the guidance of a trainer or participate in physical therapy, you could discuss your interest in backward walking with your trainer or therapist and ask them to watch you for safety while you practice.

Targeting the Average Number of Steps per Day for Your Age and Sex

When you want to begin incorporating backward walking for exercise, a few different techniques you can try as you get started are:

With time, you can eventually make the backward steps a part of your usual fitness routine to vary the intensity and muscle movements of your workout and to improve your balance.Your speed and duration walked will likely increase with practice of backward walking.

Since you typically can’t walk backward as quickly as you walk forward, you can use backward walking as a warm-up before your exercise session. Because it usually safe to challenge yourself too much after a tiring workout, retro walking isn’t a good way to cool down.

How to Incorporate Walking Backwards in Your Walking Routine

You might consider including backward walking in your walking routine. It’s important to start slowly, increase gradually, pay attention to visibility, and challenge yourself this way when you have energy—not when you are tired.

Be sure not to be around moving vehicles while you walk backward and to walk backward only on a flat and even floor or ground. You could also hold on to a rail or a counter to maintain your balance.

Summary

Walking backward for exercise and fitness (retro walking) has many benefits. This type of exercise drill can help you lose weight, gain balance, and build muscle strength. Retro walking can be a great addition to your fitness regimen.

If you are having physical therapy for a neurological condition or while recovering from an injury, your physical therapist might include backward walking in your rehabilitation program.

While it can be useful for your health and fitness, you need to take precautions when using backward walking to avoid injuries. Whether you are working out on your own or under the guidance of a professional, you need a variety of exercises, such as backward walking, to build and maintain skills.

Looking for a Full Body Workout? Try Nordic Walking

8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rose DK, DeMark L, Fox EJ, Clark DJ, Wludyka P.A backward walking training program to improve balance and mobility in acute stroke: a pilot randomized controlled trial.J Neurol Phys Ther.2018;42(1):12-21. doi:10.1097/NPT.0000000000000210Balasukumaran T, Olivier B, Ntsiea MV.The effectiveness of backward walking as a treatment for people with gait impairments: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clin Rehabil.2019;33(2):171-182. doi:10.1177/0269215518801430Cha HG, Kim TH, Kim MK.Therapeutic efficacy of walking backward and forward on a slope in normal adults.J Phys Ther Sci. 2016;28(6):1901-3. doi:10.1589/jpts.28.1901Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al.2024 Adult compendium of physical activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities.Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024;13(1): 6-12.Soman A, Chandy S, Alkhathami K, Ramamoorthy B, Alqahtani B.Retro walking treadmill training reduces C-reactive protein levels in overweight and obese young adults: a randomized comparative study.Health Sci Rep.2023;6(4):e1169. doi:10.1002/hsr2.1169Alghadir AH, Anwer S, Sarkar B, Paul AK, Anwar D.Effect of 6-week retro or forward walking program on pain, functional disability, quadriceps muscle strength, and performance in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial (retro-walking trial).BMC Musculoskelet Disord.2019;20(1):159. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-2537-9La Greca S, Rapali M, Ciaprini G, Russo L, Vinciguerra MG, Di Giminiani R.Acute and chronic effects of supervised flexibility training in older adults: a comparison of two different conditioning programs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(24):16974. doi:10.3390/ijerph192416974Lin NH, Liu CH, Lee P, et al.Backward walking induces significantly larger upper-Mu-rhythm suppression effects than forward walking does.Sensors (Basel).2020;20(24):7250. doi:10.3390/s20247250

8 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rose DK, DeMark L, Fox EJ, Clark DJ, Wludyka P.A backward walking training program to improve balance and mobility in acute stroke: a pilot randomized controlled trial.J Neurol Phys Ther.2018;42(1):12-21. doi:10.1097/NPT.0000000000000210Balasukumaran T, Olivier B, Ntsiea MV.The effectiveness of backward walking as a treatment for people with gait impairments: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clin Rehabil.2019;33(2):171-182. doi:10.1177/0269215518801430Cha HG, Kim TH, Kim MK.Therapeutic efficacy of walking backward and forward on a slope in normal adults.J Phys Ther Sci. 2016;28(6):1901-3. doi:10.1589/jpts.28.1901Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al.2024 Adult compendium of physical activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities.Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024;13(1): 6-12.Soman A, Chandy S, Alkhathami K, Ramamoorthy B, Alqahtani B.Retro walking treadmill training reduces C-reactive protein levels in overweight and obese young adults: a randomized comparative study.Health Sci Rep.2023;6(4):e1169. doi:10.1002/hsr2.1169Alghadir AH, Anwer S, Sarkar B, Paul AK, Anwar D.Effect of 6-week retro or forward walking program on pain, functional disability, quadriceps muscle strength, and performance in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial (retro-walking trial).BMC Musculoskelet Disord.2019;20(1):159. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-2537-9La Greca S, Rapali M, Ciaprini G, Russo L, Vinciguerra MG, Di Giminiani R.Acute and chronic effects of supervised flexibility training in older adults: a comparison of two different conditioning programs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(24):16974. doi:10.3390/ijerph192416974Lin NH, Liu CH, Lee P, et al.Backward walking induces significantly larger upper-Mu-rhythm suppression effects than forward walking does.Sensors (Basel).2020;20(24):7250. doi:10.3390/s20247250

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Rose DK, DeMark L, Fox EJ, Clark DJ, Wludyka P.A backward walking training program to improve balance and mobility in acute stroke: a pilot randomized controlled trial.J Neurol Phys Ther.2018;42(1):12-21. doi:10.1097/NPT.0000000000000210Balasukumaran T, Olivier B, Ntsiea MV.The effectiveness of backward walking as a treatment for people with gait impairments: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clin Rehabil.2019;33(2):171-182. doi:10.1177/0269215518801430Cha HG, Kim TH, Kim MK.Therapeutic efficacy of walking backward and forward on a slope in normal adults.J Phys Ther Sci. 2016;28(6):1901-3. doi:10.1589/jpts.28.1901Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al.2024 Adult compendium of physical activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities.Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024;13(1): 6-12.Soman A, Chandy S, Alkhathami K, Ramamoorthy B, Alqahtani B.Retro walking treadmill training reduces C-reactive protein levels in overweight and obese young adults: a randomized comparative study.Health Sci Rep.2023;6(4):e1169. doi:10.1002/hsr2.1169Alghadir AH, Anwer S, Sarkar B, Paul AK, Anwar D.Effect of 6-week retro or forward walking program on pain, functional disability, quadriceps muscle strength, and performance in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial (retro-walking trial).BMC Musculoskelet Disord.2019;20(1):159. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-2537-9La Greca S, Rapali M, Ciaprini G, Russo L, Vinciguerra MG, Di Giminiani R.Acute and chronic effects of supervised flexibility training in older adults: a comparison of two different conditioning programs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(24):16974. doi:10.3390/ijerph192416974Lin NH, Liu CH, Lee P, et al.Backward walking induces significantly larger upper-Mu-rhythm suppression effects than forward walking does.Sensors (Basel).2020;20(24):7250. doi:10.3390/s20247250

Rose DK, DeMark L, Fox EJ, Clark DJ, Wludyka P.A backward walking training program to improve balance and mobility in acute stroke: a pilot randomized controlled trial.J Neurol Phys Ther.2018;42(1):12-21. doi:10.1097/NPT.0000000000000210

Balasukumaran T, Olivier B, Ntsiea MV.The effectiveness of backward walking as a treatment for people with gait impairments: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clin Rehabil.2019;33(2):171-182. doi:10.1177/0269215518801430

Cha HG, Kim TH, Kim MK.Therapeutic efficacy of walking backward and forward on a slope in normal adults.J Phys Ther Sci. 2016;28(6):1901-3. doi:10.1589/jpts.28.1901

Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al.2024 Adult compendium of physical activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities.Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024;13(1): 6-12.

Soman A, Chandy S, Alkhathami K, Ramamoorthy B, Alqahtani B.Retro walking treadmill training reduces C-reactive protein levels in overweight and obese young adults: a randomized comparative study.Health Sci Rep.2023;6(4):e1169. doi:10.1002/hsr2.1169

Alghadir AH, Anwer S, Sarkar B, Paul AK, Anwar D.Effect of 6-week retro or forward walking program on pain, functional disability, quadriceps muscle strength, and performance in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial (retro-walking trial).BMC Musculoskelet Disord.2019;20(1):159. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-2537-9

La Greca S, Rapali M, Ciaprini G, Russo L, Vinciguerra MG, Di Giminiani R.Acute and chronic effects of supervised flexibility training in older adults: a comparison of two different conditioning programs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(24):16974. doi:10.3390/ijerph192416974

Lin NH, Liu CH, Lee P, et al.Backward walking induces significantly larger upper-Mu-rhythm suppression effects than forward walking does.Sensors (Basel).2020;20(24):7250. doi:10.3390/s20247250

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