This backward habit can ease back pain and boost your brain plus 3 other benefits

People are always telling you to move forward in life. But what if we told you that the key to a stronger body and a sharper mind was actually going backward? Yes, literally. A growing body of research suggests that putting one foot behind the other has a surprising amount of health benefits. Walking backward has been shown to ease lower back pain by engaging the lumbar extensor muscles —a group of muscles in the lower back that extend and stabilize the lumbar spine — more effectively than forward walking. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Biomechanics reported that backward walking caused greater activation of these muscles in patients with chronic low back pain.And Janet Dufek, a biomechanist with over 20 years of experience in retrowalking, as it’s called, led a study in which five athletes reported less lower back pain after walking backwards. “Our research has shown that, indirectly, backward walking has some benefits relative to lower back pain simply because you’re stretching the hamstrings,” Dufek told the BBC.“Often one of the pieces that’s tied to lower back pain is tight hamstrings.”Backward walking also gives your brain a workout, as researchers have found that areas of the brain associated with problem solving and decision making are more active when moving retroactively — probably because you’re trying so hard to avoid a fire hydrant. One 2019 study asked 38 participants to perform the Stroop Test — rapidly naming the color of a word written in an incongruent color, i.e.

the word “green” is written in red — while walking in different directions. Interestingly enough, the study found that people walking backward had the fastest response times to the prompts, suggesting the motion makes you a little sharper as you perform it. According to a 2024 compendium in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, walking backward can elevate heart rate and oxygen consumption by 17-30% more than forward walking, which mean...