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I wanted to share this description of people walking which I had never thought of before!
“Walking involves all the joints of the lower limb and is characterised by an ‘inverted pendulum’ motion, in which the body vaults over the non-moving limb.” That makes it sound very impressive (and quite complicated, which it isn’t)!
- Strike the ground first with your heel.
- Roll through the step from heel to toe.
- Push off with your toes.
- Swing the back leg forward to strike again with the heel.
However as we age the “proper” walking gait might become more difficult due to loss of muscle mass, osteoarthritis and decreased mobility in joints amongst other things, and that is when the hip hitch rather than lifting the knee to get the foot off the ground and the flat foot strike start to occur.
An exercise which may help is the flamingo swing. During walking, the muscles of the upper leg, the muscles of the lower leg and the hip flexors, all work together and this exercise does the same and includes a balance element!
Demonstration of the flamingo swing (with regressions and progressions)
A kitchen counter makes a great support option if you need a little bit of help to begin with.
Have a go and let me know how you get on!
The post Walking Gait appeared first on Whole Life Fitness.
Helen
Having worked in IT in London for 15 years I was made redundant in 2009. I had trained as a gym instructor whilst working and decided I would rather spend the rest of my career doing something I loved than look for another job in IT. I furthered my qualifications with a Certificate in Advanced Personal Training from the highly regarded Premier Training. Many personal trainers are generalists covering all areas of fitness but I took the decision to specialise in the over-50s and therefore went on to do a CYQ Award in Functional Training for the Independent Older Adult Level 3. My focus is on overall health rather than fitness. I believe that making small changes can have a long term positive effect on health and well-being.
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