How Retro-Walking Benefits Health (and Why You Should Try It)

©2025 T. Agnew

As a former kinesiologist, active runner, and former competitor of 10K races, the benefits of running on the brain and body have always been clear to me. Years ago, while running with a friend, he turned and ran-walked backwards.

“That’s intriguing. How long have you been doing that?” I said.

A resident of New York city, he told me he had begun to walk backwards through Central Park, and because it helped with back pain and knee issues, he started to run that way, switching between forward and backward.

While it didn’t resonate back then (before my sport medicine training), today it makes perfect sense.

As a practitioner of martial arts for decades, I learned the concept of walking backwards, or retro-walking, when one of my teachers introduced it to me.

While his technique was not actually walking backwards, but nuanced movements that included reverse, or multiple angle poses and katas, he suggested the same concept of awareness in six directions and using opposite muscle groups.

Today, it’s become a popular craze, with physical therapists and fitness professionals touting its benefits. Recent research suggests they are right. In this article, I’ll explain why retro-walking is so beneficial to our health.

Opposite Muscle Groups

Our muscles work in wondrous opposition and it’s how we train the body (or should). For example, arm extension (triceps) accompanies arm flexion (biceps femoris) because they work together to allow joints to move.

This is true with every joint in the body. To unify and protect joint movement, the body's flexors and extensors work together in concentric (muscle shortening) and eccentric (muscle lengthening) operation.

When I practiced in sports medicine, one of my mantras was, and still is, extension, extension, extension. We float in flexion while in our mother’s womb, often sleep in a fetal position, and the body operates across gravity in flexion when we walk forward or sit — and most of our daily movements are flexion (it’s why our biceps and hamstrings are so developed).

Using extension movements is the opposite of how our bodies move through gravity, but it’s one of the most powerful things you can do for brain-body health. Why?

The Potential Cognitive and Health Benefits

Intermittent retro-walking challenges the brain because of the unnatural movement. We are so accustomed to moving through gravity in flexion that at first reversing that feels awkward (and you might worry about what others think but ignore it). Retro-walking opens new neural pathways as it maps out the new movement pattern. More specifically, activity in the prefrontal cortex expands.

Studies show retro-walking stimulates areas of the brain linked to memory, rapid decision-making, and problem-solving — especially the prefrontal cortex, your cognitive command center.

The new motion ignites your brain to adapt, rewiring itself through neuroplasticity. Each step becomes a signal to form new mental connections and strengthen existing ones and it’s one reason Asian martial arts taught opposite movements.

Retro-walking also commands your full body’s attention, stimulates your senses, and locks your brain into a new movement pattern. It alters the traditional proprioception (where your body is in space).

Because you must contend with balance and be aware of your environment, your brain goes into stealth mode and keeps you present.

Improved Balance and Stability

Balance issues are a major conundrum, especially after age forty. In an aging population, improving balance is vital. Hip, head, and shoulder fractures often occur because of poor stability in daily movements. In 2016, 36.8 million adults told their general practitioners that they worry about their balance in everyday movements.

Head injuries from slipping in the shower or falling on a sidewalk can cause fatal injuries — and I say this from my own personal (and painful) experiences with friends and family (I wrote about this here). Improving balance is prudent at any age.

Retro-walking challenges the body’s balance, forcing it to reboot to different neural pathways and fascia nerve receptors, ultimately strengthening balance and stability.

Improved Muscle Strength

Engaging in retro-walking strengthens the extensor muscles in the back, hamstrings, and ankles that are merely supports during forward walking.

Retro-walking forces the attachments of the biceps femoris crossing the back of the knee, and the popliteus muscle, to work, providing dynamic strengthening of the knee capsule.

Knee issues, such as meniscal and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, all benefit from retro-walking (ask your orthopedic surgeon about this and they will shrug it off).

Other Specific Conditions

Specific conditions, such as sacroiliac dysfunction, benefit from retro-walking because it forces the sacrum ligaments to move and shift the pelvis to the new movement pattern.

Retro-walking improves gait quality and reduces disability in people with chronic back pain, and it even helps those with neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Expedited Cardiorespiratory Conditioning

Walking backward is a challenging exercise because we are not used to it, and it’s an exceptional cardiovascular exercise that is easily implemented in an existing program. It elevates heart rate and oxygen uptake — especially when performed on hills or steps — potentially improving cardiopulmonary fitness. (Do not attempt steps when first starting.)

How to Begin

Retro-walking does not have to be miles and miles at a time. You can walk backwards in your living room or incorporate it into hikes or runs, switching between forward and backward movements.

It’s best to walk backwards in an open area until you get used to the movement. Even a few steps are beneficial. Your body must adjust to the new proprioception, so take it slow.

If you have poor balance, or you’re just beginning with exercise, use caution. An unaccustomed body easily stumbles when moving backward. A track or grassy park is the safest, as you don’t have to look behind you for obstacles.

Review

Retro-walking is an exceptional movement for the brain, body, and to help common dysfunctions that are not helped by traditional exercises. It rewires the brain, strengthens and stabilizes, and improves balance.

People often perceive walking backward as odd. People will stare. Just wave and smile and perhaps they’ll join you.