1 Simple Walking Trick That Improves Mobility and Brain Health

If you only move forward when walking, you're missing out on the pretty impressive benefits that come with simply reversing course. Yes, I am telling you to walk backward.

Before you write this off as a ridiculous request, hear me out. Backward walking — also called retro-walking — challenges our body and mind in a unique way, adding additional benefits to your walking routine.

Backward walking is exactly what it sounds like: the act of walking in reverse. This movement requires you to maintain proper posture and balance and engages different muscles than forward walking, activating the glutes, hamstrings and calves and stretching the quads and hips.

And the benefits don't stop there. Walking backward challenges your mind-body connection, improving coordination and activating the nervous system in a new way. Learn why this simple movement is so beneficial for the mind and body — and easy ways to incorporate it into your routine.

Backward walking challenges your brain

A regular walking routine is a great way to maintain a healthy weight and improve your cardiovascular health. But like any workout, it can get stale if you don't find ways to mix it up. Backward walking offers a nice change of pace and helps keep things interesting, preventing boredom.

“Walking backwards is not a ‘secret’ or ‘miracle’ exercise, but, it definitely provides some benefits," Dr. Rand McClain, sports medicine physician and owner of the Regenerative & Sports Medicine clinic in Santa Monica, California, tells TODAY.com. "The most obvious difference between walking backwards versus walking forward is that walking backwards requires more focus and coordination, challenging the body and brain.”

“Different muscles are used to walk backwards and some of the same are used, but in a different sequence and balance,” McClain adds. "That not only affects the muscles — typically getting them to work harder than they are used to — but affects the brain and the nervous system in new ways that help activate direct pathways involved in the movement itself as well as indirect pathways that help the brain grow and develop new neurons and synapses (a concept often referred to as neuronal or simply brain ’plasticity’).”

Backward walking benefits

When walking forward, the primary muscles engaged are the quads, hamstrings and calves. Walking backward engages the glutes, hamstrings and even the shins, which help to maintain balance. There is also a bonus core challenge in walking backward as your body fights to maintain stability and balance. Over time, this can help strengthen the core and improve posture and spinal alignment.

Challenging your your joints and muscles to move in a different range of motion than they are used to helps to improve mobility. This translates to your daily life, allowing you to perform everyday movements with more ease, whether it's reaching for something on a high shelf or bending down to tie your shoes.

Walking backward can help in developing coordination, strength, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and “extra” calorie burning (due to it being more difficult), says McClain. “Also, it can often provide an alternate source of exercise for someone with injury or degeneration (arthritis) because walking backwards can often avoid using those injured or degenerated muscles or joint components (ligaments, arthritic areas and menisci) that walking forward aggravate,” he adds.

Research supports the benefit of incorporating backward walking into a fitness routine. According to one study, people who walked backward improved their balance, length of their steps and speed of their steps. The same study showed that backward walking can actually put less strain on the joints compared to walking forward. So, if your knees, ankles or feet are feeling store or stiff, try walking backward to loosen things up. Another study found that walking backward on a treadmill helped stoke patients improve their cardiopulmonary fitness, increased their walking speed and improved their balance.

3 easy ways to add backward walking to your routine

•  Start small: Ease into it by simply walking backward throughout your day. You can walk backward down a hallway in your house, from the kitchen to the family room, or down the driveway to get your mail.

• Try intervals: During your daily walk, walk forward for 5 minutes and then walk backward for 1 minute. Repeat this routine a few times. If you want to incorporate even more backward motion, make the interval lengths equal by walking for one block or one minute forward, and then one block or 1 minute backward, alternating every minute.

• Use the treadmill: If you walk indoors on a treadmill, it’s a great opportunity to incorporate some backward walking with assistance. Since treadmills have handrails, they provide more stability and will help with balance as you get used to the new movement. Step on the treadmill backward, start the belt at a low speed (slower than you typically walk forward), and rest your hands lightly on the handrails before stepping on the belt.