Session 6: Uphill and Downhill

Walking up and down hills and stairs can be challenging for multiple reasons, but it’s also a regular part of life. As we grow older, we might respond to creaky, aching joints by simply avoiding hills and stairs altogether and sticking to flat terrain at all times. While skipping the stairs may allow us to skip past the pain for now, it can create an even larger challenge of having a body that can’t handle ups and downs.

Our joints are made for walking in a world that’s not flat. Walking up and down hill is an important part of what keeps our bodies (especially our ankles, knees, and hips) healthy and moving for life. If you’re someone who experiences pain in one or more of these areas, there’s probably a different way you could be walking to make it a more enjoyable experience for your tissues.

Uphill

When you’re walking up an incline, you’ve got to push down and back against gravity in order to move your body up and forward. Think of the way you push a paddle back against the water to push your canoe forward. In the same way, your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves all team up to push the ground away, lifting you up.  

A common problem people encounter with traveling uphill is that we’ll put too much of the work on our quadriceps on the front thigh, and not enough work on the backs of our legs. You might notice that each time you take a step up, your knee travels forward as you bring your body up over it. This puts much more pressure on the knee joint, which is occasionally fine, but can wear it out if done with every single upward step. (Go walk up some stairs and notice what your knees tend to do, or better yet, ask a friend to watch you from the side).

Purple arrows indicate the muscular action of the quadriceps loading the knee joint.

Here’s how you can help give your knees a break:

1. Keep your shin vertical so you’re knee doesn’t travel forward as you step up onto that foot. This puts more workload onto the glutes and hamstrings. Recall the action of the pelvic list (an exercise we’ll cover together if you are working with me in person). This is a key time for those outer hip muscles to pull down on the hip of your front leg.

   
   

2. Use your back leg to help you up. With your right foot up on a step, push the ball of your left foot down. Notice how that starts to lift your whole body? With your calves lifting you part of the way, your quads will have less to do.

Muscle action is now in the back of the legs instead of primarily the front of the knee.

Downhill

Going uphill can feel like a lot of work, but as many of us know, going down can sometimes be even more taxing. Even though gravity is on our side now, our muscles need to put on the “brakes” to keep us from careening uncontrollably down the slope. You can imagine your muscles are belaying you like a rock climber, letting out slack in the rope so you can move forward but continuously working the whole time to keep a hold of you.

The most common problem people have with traveling downhill is that we’re putting all of our “braking” in our knees, which wears them out.

Landing on the front foot causes compression force in and around the knee.

Here are some strategies to help save your knees:

1. Use your back leg to help slow your descent. It’s like the difference between slamming on your brakes versus slowing to a stop. If you notice that you tend to land hard on your front foot, try keeping your back heel on the ground a little longer. This will mean more work for your muscles and less forceful impact for your joints.

   
   

2. Use your hips! In the pelvic list exercise, the outer hip muscles of your standing leg can pull the hip down to stabilize the pelvis, but they can also lengthen to allow the hip up—which brings the opposite foot lower to the ground. Using this action, you can give a significant portion of the work to the outer hips instead of the knees. The motion of listing your hips while walking downhill is like a skier slaloming down a slope—zigzagging instead of plummeting straight down.

Keeping the back leg active rather than falling onto the front foot.

Front view: outer hip muscles engage while they lengthen to help lower the opposite hip and leg with control.

A team is more successful when everyone plays their part, and that’s what our powerful leg muscles can do, when we learn how to balance the load.

Other factors that can create pain and discomfort include rotations in the upper leg, lower leg, and foot. One sign you’ve got some rotation going on is if you bend your knee on the ascent or descent and notice your knee traveling in or out rather than straight forward. There’s so much to work on, but we can’t wait to get it all perfect before we start moving. As always, listening to your body with compassion for yourself will help you make the right decisions for you.

The purpose of the articles on my website is to get you thinking, hopefully inspire you, and prompt you to ask more questions. If some of the information here is unclear, that’s great! Let’s discuss it in person for the most effective communication.