It's all about how you walk!
Your walking style indicates how healthy you really are
The secret giveaway to good health is how effortlessly and comfortably you walk. Walking, say experts, involves synchronisation of multiple body parts including the arms, back, pelvis, hips, knees, calves, hamstrings and feet that help steer you forward. A slight glitch in any area can affect your gait. Here's a quick guide to analysing your health through your walk.
1. Bouncy gait: Stiff calf muscles
The landing action of the foot is completed at the toes. At this point, the calf muscles are stretched to propel the body forward. Tight calf muscles are unable to do this. Mobility consultant Chaitanya Shah says, "Tight calf muscles could be the result of faulty foot landing, wearing high heels regularly or not stretching enough before and after exercising."
Correct it: Tight calves can cause knee and ankle injuries by altering the way you walk. Try the standing calf stretch — start by taking a large step forward. Use a wall for balance, if necessary. With the back foot flat on the floor and pointing straight forward, slowly transfer weight onto the front leg until you feel the stretch in the calf of the back leg.
2. Reduced arm swing: Lower back problem
You'd have to put a lot more effort to walk if you did not swing your arms, and used only your pelvis and legs to move forward. This is because arm swing improves the economy of motion and grants you a swifter gait by balancing your weight on the legs. Free arm swing is the result of twisting of the upper torso and the pelvis in opposite directions, while walking. Lower back trouble can cause an impediment in this twist, thus reducing the arm swing.
Correct it: Commuters travelling for long hours in local trains and cars, and office goers slouching in their chairs all day, often complain of lower back pain. Shah advises that they take a two-minute break from their desk and walk every 30 minutes. "Also, extra weight around the mid section pulls the pelvis forward, putting stress on the lower back. Correct your posture and keep your back healthy by exercising regularly," adds Shah.
3. Flat gait: Bunions
Unable to put pressure on your toes after landing your foot results in a flat gait. The reason may be a bunion in your foot. Bunions develop when weight falls unevenly on the joints in your feet. The pressure causes the joint to become unstable and protrude beyond the normal shape of your foot.
Correct it: Shah suggests you wear comfortable footwear to treat bunions. "Wearing high heels and narrow-toed shoes regularly distributes the body weight unequally across your toes, leading to bunions. I treated a 25-year-old girl who developed bunions because she roamed around in heels. Her condition improved as soon as she started wearing comfy flats."
4. Short stride: Tense hamstrings
When your foot makes contact with the ground, the knee has to be in a straight line with the thigh and the shin bone. Tight hamstring muscles (if you feel tautness at the back of your legs) will leave your knees slightly bent while walking, reducing the length of your stride to half. According to Dr Dilip Nadkarni, orthopedic knee surgeon and sports medicine consultant, tight hamstrings are a result of sedentary lifestyle. "Prolonged sitting causes the hamstrings to get contracted. They lose their flexibility and can tear with the slightest pull."
Correct it: People with this condition tend to develop lower back pain. Stretching the hamstrings can help you rid yourself of lower back pain to a large extent. Plus, it will correct your stride. Sit on the floor and straighten your right leg in front of you. Bend the left knee, placing the sole of your left foot against your right inner thigh. Fold over your right leg, keeping your back straight. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch legs.
5. Slap walking: Neurological problem
Walking is a function controlled by the brain. To propel you forward, the brain sends and receives thousands of messages through the spinal chord to nerve ends located in the sole of the foot. "To know if you are walking correctly, listen to the sound of your foot landing. A soft landing without any noise is not only good for your knees and hip joints, but also indicates good brain health," says Dr Nadkarni.
You should be concerned if you have suddenly started slapping your foot while walking. "A slapping gait indicates a muscle coordination problem between the brain and nerve ends in the foot."
Correct it: It's best if a neurologist is consulted on this one.
6. Lurching is a sign of osteoarthritis
If you are taking the weight off one side of the body to clear the opposite foot off the ground (movement resembling an oscillating pendulum), you could have an osteoarthritic knee. The cartilage of the knee joint may get worn out with ageing.
Correct it: Weight loss may correct the lurching and reduce the risk for osteoarthritis in the knees.
The secret giveaway to good health is how effortlessly and comfortably you walk. Walking, say experts, involves synchronisation of multiple body parts including the arms, back, pelvis, hips, knees, calves, hamstrings and feet that help steer you forward. A slight glitch in any area can affect your gait. Here's a quick guide to analysing your health through your walk.
1. Bouncy gait: Stiff calf muscles
The landing action of the foot is completed at the toes. At this point, the calf muscles are stretched to propel the body forward. Tight calf muscles are unable to do this. Mobility consultant Chaitanya Shah says, "Tight calf muscles could be the result of faulty foot landing, wearing high heels regularly or not stretching enough before and after exercising."
Correct it: Tight calves can cause knee and ankle injuries by altering the way you walk. Try the standing calf stretch — start by taking a large step forward. Use a wall for balance, if necessary. With the back foot flat on the floor and pointing straight forward, slowly transfer weight onto the front leg until you feel the stretch in the calf of the back leg.
2. Reduced arm swing: Lower back problem
You'd have to put a lot more effort to walk if you did not swing your arms, and used only your pelvis and legs to move forward. This is because arm swing improves the economy of motion and grants you a swifter gait by balancing your weight on the legs. Free arm swing is the result of twisting of the upper torso and the pelvis in opposite directions, while walking. Lower back trouble can cause an impediment in this twist, thus reducing the arm swing.
Correct it: Commuters travelling for long hours in local trains and cars, and office goers slouching in their chairs all day, often complain of lower back pain. Shah advises that they take a two-minute break from their desk and walk every 30 minutes. "Also, extra weight around the mid section pulls the pelvis forward, putting stress on the lower back. Correct your posture and keep your back healthy by exercising regularly," adds Shah.
3. Flat gait: Bunions
Unable to put pressure on your toes after landing your foot results in a flat gait. The reason may be a bunion in your foot. Bunions develop when weight falls unevenly on the joints in your feet. The pressure causes the joint to become unstable and protrude beyond the normal shape of your foot.
Correct it: Shah suggests you wear comfortable footwear to treat bunions. "Wearing high heels and narrow-toed shoes regularly distributes the body weight unequally across your toes, leading to bunions. I treated a 25-year-old girl who developed bunions because she roamed around in heels. Her condition improved as soon as she started wearing comfy flats."
4. Short stride: Tense hamstrings
When your foot makes contact with the ground, the knee has to be in a straight line with the thigh and the shin bone. Tight hamstring muscles (if you feel tautness at the back of your legs) will leave your knees slightly bent while walking, reducing the length of your stride to half. According to Dr Dilip Nadkarni, orthopedic knee surgeon and sports medicine consultant, tight hamstrings are a result of sedentary lifestyle. "Prolonged sitting causes the hamstrings to get contracted. They lose their flexibility and can tear with the slightest pull."
Correct it: People with this condition tend to develop lower back pain. Stretching the hamstrings can help you rid yourself of lower back pain to a large extent. Plus, it will correct your stride. Sit on the floor and straighten your right leg in front of you. Bend the left knee, placing the sole of your left foot against your right inner thigh. Fold over your right leg, keeping your back straight. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch legs.
5. Slap walking: Neurological problem
Walking is a function controlled by the brain. To propel you forward, the brain sends and receives thousands of messages through the spinal chord to nerve ends located in the sole of the foot. "To know if you are walking correctly, listen to the sound of your foot landing. A soft landing without any noise is not only good for your knees and hip joints, but also indicates good brain health," says Dr Nadkarni.
You should be concerned if you have suddenly started slapping your foot while walking. "A slapping gait indicates a muscle coordination problem between the brain and nerve ends in the foot."
Correct it: It's best if a neurologist is consulted on this one.
6. Lurching is a sign of osteoarthritis
If you are taking the weight off one side of the body to clear the opposite foot off the ground (movement resembling an oscillating pendulum), you could have an osteoarthritic knee. The cartilage of the knee joint may get worn out with ageing.
Correct it: Weight loss may correct the lurching and reduce the risk for osteoarthritis in the knees.
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