seconds: Your stride, gait, pace, and posture while walking can reveal
surprising information about your overall health and well-being.
"Many physicians are keenly aware, when they see someone walking down
the street, what their diagnosis might be, whether their underlying
health is good or bad, and if not good, a number of tip-offs to what
might be wrong," says Charles Blitzer, an orthopedic surgeon in
Somersworth, New Hampshire, and a spokesperson for the American
Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
Find out what the following 15 walking styles may signal about your health.
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Walking clue #1: A snail'space
May reveal: Shorter life expectancy
Walking speed is a reliable marker for longevity, according to a
University ofPittsburgh analysis of nine large studies, reported in a
January 2011 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The 36,000 subjects were all over age 65. In fact, predicting survival
based on walking speed proved to be as accurate as using age, sex,
chronic conditions, smoking, body mass index, hospitalizations, and
other common markers. It's especially accurate for those over age 75.
The average speed was 3 feet per second (about twomiles an hour).
Those who walked slower than 2 feet per second (1.36 miles per hour)
had an increased riskof dying. Those who walked faster than 3.3 feet
per second (2.25 miles per hour) or faster survived longer than would
be predicted simply by age or gender.
A 2006 report in JAMA found that among adults ages 70 to 79, those who
couldn't walk a quarter mile were less likely to be alive six years
later. They were also more likely to suffer illness and disability
before death. An earlier study of men ages 71 to 93found that those
who could walk two miles a dayhad half the risk of heart attack of
those who could walk only a quarter mile orless.
Simply walking faster or farther doesn't make you healthier -- in
fact, pushingit could make you vulnerable to injury. Rather, each body
seems tofind a natural walking speed based on its overall condition.
If it's slow, it's usually because of underlying health issues that
are cutting longevity.
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Walking clue #2: Not too much arm swing
May reveal: Lower back trouble
"It's really amazing the way that we're made," says physical therapist
Steve Bailey, owner of Prompt Physical Therapy inKnoxville, Tennessee.
As the left leg comes forward, the spine goes into a right rotation
and the right arm moves back. This coordination of the muscles on both
sides is what gives support to the lower back, he says.
If someone is walking without much swing to thearm, it's a red flag
that the spine isn't being supportedas well as it could be, because of
some kind of limitation in the back's mobility. Back pain or a
vulnerability to damage can follow. "Arm swing is agreat indicator of
how the back is functioning," Bailey says.
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Walking clue #3: One foot slaps the ground
May reveal: Ruptured disk in back, possible stroke
Sometimes experts don't have to see you walk -- they can hear you
coming down the hall. A condition called "foot slap" or "drop foot" is
when your foot literally slaps the ground as you walk. "It's caused
bymuscle weakness of the anterior tibial muscle or the peroneal
muscles," sayspodiatrist Jane E. Andersen,who has a practice in Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, and is a past president of the American
Association for Women Podiatrists.
A healthy stride starts witha heel strike, then the foot slowly lowers
to the ground, then it lifts from the toe and slings back to your
heel. But with drop foot, muscle control is lost and the foot can't
return slowly to the ground. Instead, it "slaps" the ground.
"This could be a sign of a stroke or other neuromuscular event, or
ofcompression of a nerve," Andersen says. A ruptured disk in the back
is a common cause, since it cancompress a nerve that travels down the
leg. A rare cause of drop foot is simply crossing your legs, Andersen
says, if the common peroneal nerve is disrupted from the pressure.