WALKING DAILY - PAIN PREVENTION AND ALLEVIATION TIPS

Many of us can get away with lots of incorrectly performed movements during the day. But when any action is performed in an incorrect manner a thousand times, the negative effects will be felt, without a question.

Let's take for example a person who has to walk miles and miles on a daily basis. While not too many of us would bother to even wonder, if there is a correct way to walk, somebody stomping out miles on a daily basis has already changed the shoes from casual to athletic and has been looking for other ways to better handle the taxing mileage.

Wearing comfortable, but also proper shoes is one of the steps in the right direction. The most important step however is actually learning how to walk and how to move correctly. Even the subtlest of positive changes in your movement could prove lifesaving.

Below is a brief and easy to follow list of general guidelines that will help you to have a better experience of daily walking. First and foremost is technique. You have to learn proper walking technique. Correcting the errors in movement will eliminate the root of all problems for you, without it everything you do will be a band-aid that won't stay on for long.

1. Learn & maintain proper walking technique. If you walk and walk and walk, you simply have to learn how to do it right. Something that is such a big part of your daily life, should be considered a skill that deserves more attention and needs improvement. We recommend learning the Pose Walking technique.
2. Warm up. Start your day with a warm up. It is essential to allow your body a chance to warm up the muscles, ligaments and tendons, and prepare the nervous and cardio-respiratory systems for the day ahead, especially a day of walking excessive mileage. In Pose Method we are using special running technique drills to get the body into the right biomechanical structure of movement. Use the basic ones like pony, tapping and change of support.
3. Recover. Help your body recover after a grueling day, and it will thank you at night with a better sleep and in the morning with a rejuvenated smile. We recommend the recovery exercises mentioned in this article, as well as some strength conditioning and flexibility exercises (Strength Conditioning Hamstring and Hips Exercises Booklet, Pose Running book) and a hot bath with apple cider vinegar, epsom salt or sea salt before going to bed.
4. Develop and maintain necessary flexibility and strength. Part of injury prevention process is a process of strengthening your muscular skeletal system. Doing strength and flexibility exercises on a regular basis will help your body to function at its best and better withstand the daily load of various movements for years to come.

Alternatively, at the beginning, at the very least, you could try these recommendations out to see how much easier it is to walk and how less taxing it is on your body when you "play by the rules".

• Stay compact. In an attempt to be faster the majority of folks throw their feet far forward trying to reach further ahead, or throw their arms around vigorously pumping to help propel body forward. In reality, when our feet are way ahead of us and arms are flapping around it creates various biomechanical problems in movement that lead to injuries and immediately slow us down. So, even though, it feels like it's counterintuitive, it actually makes a lot of sense to stay compact while trying to move faster and better. Focused actions are more effective than chaotic movement.
• Maintain proper posture. Sounds so simple, but it truly is very important! Simply keeping it together and not allowing yourself to slouch, drag your feet, or show any other signs of a lazy and incorrect posture will help you tremendously. Proper posture is simply a proper body alignment where your body-weight is correctly and evenly distributed. If the body is not aligned right, certain parts of it will have to carry the load of other parts and that's what creates tension and pain.
• Make smaller steps but increase the number of steps you take. This goes along with "staying compact". Smaller steps allow for quicker and better change of support. Since "change of support" is one of the key variables in the formula of any human movement, better and quicker change of support contributes significantly to better and more efficient movement.

In an environment powerfully controlled by gravity, movement is based on change of support. To move swiftly and without injuring yourself is to change support in tune with natural forces at play. Movement related injuries occur when we try to force our way against the laws of nature - the price is dear, the ticket is one way & down the hill.

While we might be the most advanced of all species here on Earth, just like every other creature we are under the influence of gravity 24 hours a day every day. Clarity in understanding how gravity affects our movement and how it locks us into a certain way of moving, will help us to learn to move better and to avoid unnecessary injuries.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov

Strength Conditioning Hamstring and Hips Exercises Booklet