Proper Walking Form and Reciprocal Walking Pattern

Proper walking form is a perfect, natural rhythm as your arms and legs move in harmony. This is reciprocal walking motion, and it’s something we’re all born with. As we age, many of us lose this natural movement pattern, replacing it with less efficient ways of walking.

Think of reciprocal walking motion as nature’s blueprint for correct walking form. When your right leg steps forward, your left arm naturally swings forward too, just like when you were a child. This walking pattern helps you:

Move more efficiently
Keep your balance
Get the most benefit for your bones

In this post, we’ll explore four key principles of reciprocal walking motion that will help you rediscover good walking form. We’ll also look at how correct walking posture plays a crucial role in walking correctly.

Remember: Walking quickly is great for your bones, but proper walking form while moving quickly? That’s even better! Let’s learn how to reclaim that proper walking technique we all started with.

Proper Walking Form and Reciprocal Motion

The story of how we learn to walk starts long before those exciting first steps. It begins with crawling – our first lesson in reciprocal motion. Picture a baby on all fours: right arm and left leg moving forward together, then left arm and right leg. This natural coordination is brilliant in its simplicity!

As babies crawl, they’re actually practicing an important life skill. Their shoulders and opposite hips work as a team, creating a smooth forward movement. It’s like watching a tiny master class in motion – and the baby is both teacher and student!

Then comes the big moment: standing up. That same coordinated movement pattern they mastered while crawling transforms into walking. The recipe stays the same, but now it’s happening vertically instead of horizontally. The shoulders still work with the opposite hips, but now they’re creating that magical thing we call walking.

Those precious first steps are more than just a milestone – they’re the result of perfectly coordinated movements that your body naturally knew how to do all along!

In the video ahead, you’ll see four key principles that make up this natural walking pattern. Let’s explore each one and learn how to bring them back into your walking technique. After all, your body already knows how to do this – sometimes it just needs a gentle reminder!

Ready to rediscover these natural movement patterns? Let’s explore them one by one.

Reciprocal Walking Pattern: Arm and Leg Movement

The first principle of reciprocal walking motion is arm swing and leg movement. Your arms and legs are natural partners in walking, just like they were when you first learned to crawl. Here’s the simple but powerful pattern: as your right arm swings forward, your left leg steps ahead, and vice versa.

Think back to watching a baby crawl – it’s the exact same movement pattern! The only difference is that babies do this movement on all fours, while we do it standing up. Right arm forward matches with left leg forward, creating a smooth, natural rhythm.

This opposite arm-leg movement isn’t just for show – it’s your body’s way of:

Keeping you balanced
Making your walk more efficient
Helping you move forward smoothly

When you walk, let your arms and legs follow this natural pattern. Don’t fight it – your body has known how to do this since you first started crawling!

Proper Walking Form and Straight Arm Swing

The second principle of good walking form and reciprocal motion is that the arms swing straight ahead. This creates a forward momentum that keeps your body moving as you walk.

Everybody should do this movement pattern. However, some people swing their arms across their body as they walk. This reduces the forward movement, causes a lot of torquing, is very inefficient, and leads to a loss of momentum.

To eliminate this habit, practice your marching movement on the spot (one of the warm up exercises in Exercise for Better Bones) and incorporate opposite arm and leg pattern into the marching movement.

Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis

Exercise is an essential ingredient to bone health. If you have osteoporosis, therapeutic exercise needs to be part of your osteoporosis treatment program.

But what exercises should you do and which ones should you avoid? What exercises build bone and which ones reduce your chance of a fracture? Is Yoga good for your bones? Who should you trust when it comes to exercises for osteoporosis?

A great resource on exercise and osteoporosis is my free, seven day email course called Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis. After you provide your email address, you will receive seven consecutive online educational videos on bone health — one lesson each day. You can look at the videos at anytime and as often as you like.

I cover important topics related to osteoporosis exercise including:

Can exercise reverse osteoporosis?
Stop the stoop — how to avoid kyphosis and rounded shoulders.
Key components of an osteoporosis exercise program.
Key principles of bone building.
Exercises you should avoid if you have osteoporosis.
Yoga and osteoporosis — should you practice yoga if you have osteoporosis?
Core strength and osteoporosis — why is core strength important if you have osteoporosis?

Enter your email address and I will start you on this free course. I do not SPAM or share your email address (or any information) with third parties. You can unsubscribe from my mail list at any time.

Mid Back Rotation and Correct Walking Form

The third principle of reciprocal walking pattern is to pay attention to your mid back as you walk.

When we swing our arms properly, the shoulder blades are brought forward slightly – as far as our body allows them to move forward. The rotation of the mid back causes your shoulder blades to move forward. The shoulder blades are “going for the ride” but are not activating the movement. It is the mid back that is initiating the rotation.

This mid back rotation is very important.

The forward movement of the arm when we walk is caused by a slight rotation movement in the thoracic spine.

When we walk, there is always a little rotational movement in the mid back. This initiates the swinging movement of the arms. The swinging of the arms in concert with the movement of the opposite leg propels us forward.

This rotational movement happens whether you are walking with or without Nordic Poles.

It is a foundation for movement and extends beyond walking to running. In fact, you will see competitive sprinters and runners demonstrate perfect rotation of the mid back as they move forward.

Tai Chi Movement and Walking

Tai Chi provides a good example of forward movement through rotation. One of the movement patterns in Tai Chi is cloud hands. The video includes a demonstration of this movement pattern.

Notice how the hands and arms move forward. However, in reality the hands and arms are following the movement of the body. This movement is very similar to what we use when we walk correctly.

Correct Walking Posture

The fourth (and final) of reciprocal walking motion is that proper walking form incorporates correct alignment of our head over our spine.

During head carry, you should ensure that your head sits over your shoulders and that your shoulders align properly over your hips.

You see this type of alignment when people carry items on their head. This forces the head to align with the shoulders and keeps the shoulders squarely over the hips. The weight of the object is distributed through the body and the walker can effortlessly carry the item.

Avoid The Head Drop

You want to avoid a head drop when you walk. As soon as you drop your head forward, it throws off the alignment of your head with your shoulders and hips.

Your head is no longer supported properly and the weight of your head is not distributed properly over your body. Further, our walking form is compromised.

Over time, this movement pattern can lead to a number of problems including neck, back, and shoulder pain. It could also increase the risk of a fall because you compromise your balance.

You often see this happen when people use their mobile phones as they walk.

Walking, Texting and Text Neck

When you use your mobile phone as you walk, several things happen.

First, you lose or reduce your arm swing because you are holding the phone.
Second, the reciprocal motion through the thoracic spine is lost.

The combination of these two losses compromises your walking form and increases your risk of injury, pain and, potentially, a fall.

Exercise and Osteoporosis

Exercise is an essential ingredient to bone health. If you have osteoporosis, therapeutic exercise needs to be part of your osteoporosis treatment program.

I cover important topics related to osteoporosis exercise including:

Can exercise reverse osteoporosis?
Stop the stoop — how to avoid kyphosis and rounded shoulders.
Key components of an osteoporosis exercise program.
Key principles of bone building.
Exercises you should avoid if you have osteoporosis.
Yoga and osteoporosis — should you practice yoga if you have osteoporosis?
Core strength and osteoporosis — why is core strength important if you have osteoporosis?