Walk Which Way?

Here is an interesting movement exercise for those that may have ended up a little bow legged as a result of physical anatomy, hip surgery, knee surgery, arthritis, or other accident.

Over at Aging Belle, they provide 8 steps to reduce or eliminate bow legs.  It also provides a link to a video of a rather entertaining Japanese talk show where the exercise is demonstrated.

In short, it recommends two things:

1. Practice walking backwards
2. Get in a habit of not crossing your legs while sitting

While I am not entirely certain what physically happens to cure bow legs when walking backwards but walking backwards has been known to have benefits. Feldenkrais (a somatic educational system I will explore further in detail in a future post) encourages backward walking as a way to to morph the body into new shapes and forms.  A Dutch study also states that backward walking promotes clearer thinking.  The Online Games Blog says the same.  It also states there are knee injury recovery benefits.

I have been trying it a few times a day for the past week and it seems to be helping me.  I am only a little bow legged on one leg so perhaps I am not the best test case but it certainly can't hurt.  Maybe I'll at least think clearer...

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading....