Does Walking Backwards on a Treadmill Actually Do Anything?
zoranm/Ljupco Smokovski/angelainthefields
I’m typically one to mind my own business at the gym. It’s my me time, so I don’t really concern myself with what others are doing. (Plus, staring at strangers is rude!). But recently, I noticed something that made my head instinctively turn: People walking backwards on the treadmill.
After witnessing several instances of this reverse strolling, I got curious and went down an internet search rabbit hole. Turns out, it’s not just a thing at my gym—backwards walking is a TikTok trend too.
Influencers on social have made all sorts of claims about it, saying it’s great for alleviating knee pain, mitigating injuries at that joint, and strengthening your hamstrings. But since these aren’t fitness pros talking, I was naturally a little skeptical. So I tapped two actual experts to help sort fact from fiction: physical therapist and run coach Spencer Agnew, PT, DPT, founder of Peak Endurance Performance and Physical Therapy in Madison, Wisconsin, and Nicole Haas, PT, DPT, founder of Boulder Physiolab in Boulder. With their help, I uncovered which backward walking benefits are actually legit—and what to consider before flipping around on your treadmill.
So why are people so hyped on backwards walking?
Most of the ideas swirling around out there about backwards walking revolve around knee health: that it can strengthen the muscles around your knee that tend to get a little ignored on a daily basis, which could help increase joint stability (and prevent injury). Other ideas floating around out there are that backwards walking is great for alleviating back pain, boosting fitness, and improving balance, Dr. Haas tells SELF.
Let’s look at the biggie—knee health—first. According to our experts, it can help with knee pain…with some caveats.
That’s because it helps fire up your quads, the large muscles along the front of your thighs that allow you to extend your knee. But you need to really focus on straightening your legs as you walk backwards to make the most of it, and many folks shy away from that position when their knee joint hurts, Dr. Agnew tells SELF. It’s an important part of the process, though: By straightening your legs, you can help better activate your quads, since one of the roles of that muscle group is to help extend the knee. Another job of the quads is to help stabilize the knees, so when those muscles are strong enough, that can help reduce discomfort, since the knee joint is better supported, he explains.
In that vein, some people who are wrestling with knee pain—either due to limitations in their range of motion or difficulty activating their quads—find that backwards walking feels more comfortable than forward strolling, Dr. Agnew says. A possible reason: According to a 2019 study in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, backward walking causes less compressive force on the patella than forward walking, which can lead to less discomfort.
“The slight shift in forces can give them an activity that their body can do successfully without flaring up or irritating their pain,” Dr. Agnew explains. And this can help them get back to moving as soon as possible by providing them with an activity they can do without discomfort.
Research on backwards walking is limited, but a 2013 study published in Northern American Journal of Medical Sciences did find that it is helpful for improving symptoms for people with knee osteoarthritis when combined with conventional treatments (like strength exercises), possibly because it reduces abnormal joint movements and improves muscle activation. And according to the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders study, which also focused on people with osteoarthritis, folks who did six weeks of backwards walking training had a greater reduction in pain and disability compared to those who did forward walking or no walking program.
But if you’re looking to stop knee issues from happening in the first place, you might be better off with tried-and-true prevention tactics, Dr. Agnew says. If that’s your goal, there are plenty of other things—like strength training, for example—that would probably give you more bang for your buck.
Long story short, backwards walking can help with knee pain if you focus on fully straightening your legs, but it’s probably not your ticket for preventing it in the first place.
What about the other claims?
While reducing knee pain is the big purported benefit of backwards walking, it’s not the only one. So what about back pain? Well, a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Preventative Medicine found backward walking can help mitigate back aches, since it helps increase the activation and endurance of the muscles that help support and stabilize the spine—something not seen with forward or sideways walking. The catch: The study was small (only 30 men) and the testing took place in a pool…so it’s hard to extrapolate those results for a broader population doing dry-land movements.
As for the notion that backwards walking can create superstrong hamstrings, you definitely do hit those big back-of-the-leg muscles as you pull your foot behind you, Dr Angew says. But it’s probably not any better than what you’d get from actually strength training that muscle group, he explains. Basically, big, multi-joint exercises like good mornings and deadlifts that use external resistance and tailored programming to really challenge your hammies are going to be better for bolstering muscle strength. And strength training is also likely a better call if general improvement in fitness is what you’re after.
But the whole unchartered territory aspect of backwards walking does bring a specific benefit: It provides a novel stimulus for your body. “It’s a new skill for people to learn,” Dr. Agnew says. “And we know there’s benefits to having new movement patterns introduced into the nervous system.” These include boosted brain activation and increased proprioception (sense of where your body is in space), Dr. Agnew says. And improving your proprioception can in turn better your balance, he adds. In fact, a small 2023 study found that backwards walking improved balance and function in people with multiple sclerosis. That’s obviously a “very specific type of patient,” Dr. Haas says. But because it does deliver that novel stimulus like we mentioned, it can be an effective balance booster for all types of people, she explains. So that is one legit perk.
Okay, so how can you walk backwards without falling on your face?
Backwards treadmill walking isn’t foolproof. “There's obviously a risk of falling, because we’re not used to doing this movement,” Dr. Agnew says.
That’s why he recommends starting with a very slow speed (a good rule of thumb is half the pace you’d walk forward at, he says), attaching the treadmill safety clip (if there is one) to your clothing, and placing your hands on the rails for support.
Once you get used to that speed, you can consider increasing it slightly, but just know picking up the pace isn’t the goal—you’re not after cardio here. In fact, you may never walk backwards as quickly as you walk forward, and that’s okay, Dr. Haas says. Instead, it’s more important to get comfortable with the speed you’re at, Dr. Agnew says. And anyways, pumping up the speed while you’re already on the treadmill requires flipping forward to access the button, which could get a little…dicey. That’s why your safest bet is to just select a comfy pace and stick with it.
As you’re stepping back, think about reaching your toes behind you first, then pushing through your entire foot, then pushing through your heel as you straighten your leg. Think of it as a toe-to-heel rocking motion, Dr. Agnew says.
There’s no magic number of minutes to walk for, but Dr. Agnew says he typically has people try it for 5 to 10 minutes. Backwards walking fits really well as a warm-up or a cooldown to a strength routine or other workout, Dr. Agnew says. No matter how you slot it in, if you start feeling tired, like you’re losing your balance, or some area of your body is tightening up as you stroll, Dr. Haas advises calling it quits.
And if you’re serious about relieving knee pain, walking backwards probably shouldn’t be the sole thing you’re doing to address it. Depending on what’s causing your discomfort, other things like strength training can play an important role. Of course, seeing an expert, like a physical therapist, is your best bet for determining the wisest way to address your knee pain. Dr. Agnew recommends seeing someone if you have any type of knee pain—even mild discomfort that’s just started nagging you—as addressing things early can help you get back to activity and recovery much more quickly than waiting it out, he explains.
So should you add backwards walking to your routine?
If you’re looking to spice up your gym routine and enhance your balance, backwards walking is “an interesting thing to try for variety,” Dr. Haas says. Just keep in mind a lot of the research on it has been focused on small groups of people with very specific diagnoses, which makes it tough to give blanket statements on the benefits of backwards walking for the general population.
“It doesn’t mean it’s wrong to try it, but just keep in mind it’s probably not the magic bullet—it’s just one option,” Dr. Haas says. To that end, if you’re trying to solve an issue related to knee pain or back pain, instead of hopping on the treadmill and twirling around, “it’s probably better to get to the root of the issue with a skilled professional, like a physical therapist or a trainer, instead,” Dr. Haas says.
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Originally Appeared on Self
