Anybody who thinks they can benefit from this should definitely check out the "knees over toes" guy on YouTube [1]. Walking backward is one of the first and most basic exercises he recommends in building up what he calls "bulletproof knees".

I'm about 30 and have noticed a significant increase in my overall athleticism since starting to regularly follow his recommendations, and I was fairly athletic to begin with. My parents are in their late 60s and both were having regular knee pain that they say has almost completely vanished after a few months of some of the more basic exercises as well.

Longer discussion with him on walking backward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdofViBpO-U

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@TheKneesovertoesguy/videos

There is a general principle behind doing new stuff.

Any training that moves metabolism and nervous system from homeostasis (dynamic equilibrium) to allostasis (stability through variation and predictive regulation) is good. This is known phenomenon in sports. You must cycle through different training regimes in weightlifting and endurance if you want to keep improving.

Try juggling, learning an instrument, waking backwards, standing in one feet, everything seems to work for as long as you still struggling to learn. It becomes homeostatic state when it is effortless and you must increase difficulty.

I've been dabbling with spending the last 3-4 minutes of my treadmill sessions walking backwards on an incline. I haven't done enough to see results, I've done maybe 5 sessions so far. One thing that surprises me is how much it gets my heart rate up, I'll do an incline of 10 and a speed of ~2, and usually it'll keep my heartrate in the 150s. If I've just been walking rather than jogging, it'll usually go up.

For most people, forward walking/running involves a slight twist of the knee that stresses the illiotibial band against the lateral aspect of the knee joint. This results in a common overuse injury in runners.

When I get this, it is usually because I have just entered a relatively serious training program from relative rest, something like adding 20+ miles a week. I generally cannot walk forward at all.

However, there is usually no limitation at all to my backwards walking or running, so I spend a week or two not just walking backward as necessary, but also in training, I will do backward track intervals with no IT band pain at all, until I forget about it and try turning around. Anecdotally, it improves recovery time for the IT band, but also causes the opposite problem to flare up in the MCL.

Note that present tense is for convenience. It’s been a long time since I’ve run.

> One Dutch study tested 38 participants' ability to solve a Stroop test – which uses conflicting stimuli such as the word "blue" in red letters to interfere with how quickly people respond to a prompt – whilst stepping backwards, forwards or sideways. It found that participants stepping backwards had the fastest reaction times, perhaps because their brains were already used to performing an incongruous task.

I wonder if this study would replicate.

It may be beneficial, but it can also be deadly.

I have known two healthy people who fell while walking backwards and struck their heads. One died and the other spent many months recovering.

I'm not suggesting a helmet, but it is something to consider.

Walking backwards let me move around the house when otherwise immobilized with tendinitis. As noted in the article there are safety concerns.

I practice backwards walking on incline on the treadmill at the gym, like others. I was once astounded to witness during my very first half marathon some fit young person walk the entire race backwards while eating a bag of chips. I didn't need any more inspiration than that

I'm always shocked how the vast majority of people walk or run like ducks (feet non parallel)

I wonder if it can make normal walking more difficult. Like when looking through a pair of glasses that flips everything upside down, after a while your brain adapts and this becomes the new normal.

My knees often feel strain when going in an extended downstairs or downhill, and I've found walking backwards downhill (not stairs; too risky) helps relieve that.