How to Walk Downstairs Properly | Knee and Hip Pain Going Downstairs

Have pain walking downstairs? Knee and hip hurt when you walk down stairs and steps? Watch this video to learn how to walk downstairs properly and how to build leg strength to do it safely.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:24 The right way to walk downstairs
01:58 Exercises to strengthen thighs and hip muscles
05: 17 Programming
06:53 Closing Thoughts

HELPFUL LINKS
🎥How to Walk Upstairs without Pain: https://youtu.be/7sBVHk1ua2Y
💪Donate to support this channel: https://paypal.me/uprighthealth
👉Want to improve your hip mobility? Check out the Healthy Hips program! https://uprighthealth.com/healthy-hips
👉Been told you have Hip Impingement? Check out the FAI Fix: https://www.thefaifix.com
👉Crush Chronic Muscle Tension with a FREE Self Massage Program: https://bit.ly/rollrelease

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At Upright Health we give you strategies and research to get your life back. 

With principled functional training, we believe everyone can beat chronic pain and get strong, mobile, and resilient.

Our home training programs help you troubleshoot and train your body safely. We help you tear down fear and build up muscle. We help you think right, move right, and feel right.

Matt Hsu's own battle with chronic pain from the age of 16 in his feet, knees, hips, back, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, hands, and head gives him a uniquely thorough understanding of musculoskeletal pain, the ways in which it can undermine an entire life, and the mental and physical hurdles that keep people from getting out of it.

When not filming videos, he's working out in the living room, surfing, learning dance or gymnastics moves, or riding a bike with his son in tow.

ENDING CREDITS MUSIC
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ABOUT THIS VIDEO
Walking downstairs requires strong leg muscles and hip muscles. The leg muscles handle lowering you down. The hip muscles, particularly the gluteals, handle the pelvis position. Too weak in any of these muscles, and you’ll find yourself compensating.

Feel the quads mostly on the support leg. Calves will also be working.

Avoid tilting and dropping the whole pelvis/shoulder/torso to reach the step. Think Think of a mostly level pelvis with the legs doing most of the work. If you have weak legs and hips, you’ll end up cheating. So let’s talk about how to build the leg strength to walk downstairs properly.

Build your strength without getting hurt. You’ve got weak thighs and hips. Should you avoid walking up stairs? NO!

First, use a handrail while doing these drills until you are confident in your ability to do them without. How will you know? When your legs feel strong enough, you’ll know.

In your daily life, focus on using the handrail to help you go downstairs.

Think SMOOTH. Avoid jerking motions. Avoid getting off kilter. Use handrail only as much as you need. Don’t force HUGE range of motion. Just go where you can and then try to make a soft landing.

If you wish to improve range of motion, you can use more hand help and/or use padding/books to make the drop lower so you don’t have to go as far. Gradually expand your range.

A VERY helpful exercise you can do to build leg strength is one that I learned from the Knees over toes guy: Walk BACKWARDS upstairs using the handrail. Do it a couple times a week to a couple times a day. If you find it fun and challenging, do it! Just make sure you don’t exhaust your legs to the point of crippling soreness.

PROGRAMMING
How often should you do these exercises? Do what you can without exhausting yourself with soreness. If you’ve got stairs at home, practice going downstairs mindfully all the time. Don’t just let yourself bounce, jerk, and twitch down.

For the very backwards walking up the stairs, be mindful that you can overdo it. So if you’re feeling super sore in the muscles around your knee one day, don’t try to POWER THROUGH. Give yourself a little rest that day.

In the first couple weeks of doing this, expect soreness. Just work with it and remember that your body is actually designed to handle moving itself. Within a few weeks, you should notice your legs getting stronger and the motion getting smoother and easier. That’s not to say you’ll be anywhere near perfect in a couple weeks. If you’re starting at ZERO and can barely get yourself down a step, look for small percentage improvements and celebrate those gains so you stay motivated.

#HipPain #KneePain #HurtsWalkingDownstairs #UprightHealth