What Walking Every Day Does To Your Body & Life! - Heal Pain, Posture & Longevity | Helen Hall

Here are the top 10 key takeaways from Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's conversation with movement expert Helen Hall about how walking and proper body mechanics can transform your health, posture, and longevity.

1. Walking is a fundamental human movement with profound health benefits

Walking is a whole-body movement practice that engages every part of your body. When you walk, your arms swing, your legs move rhythmically, and there's a twist in the middle that provides an internal massage for your organs. Walking strengthens the venous return system, which helps pump blood back to the heart from the extremities.

Walking also optimizes your lymphatic system, which is responsible for collecting metabolic waste fluid, broken cells, and other materials that need to be eliminated from the body. The lymphatic system is attached to the venous system, and the action of walking—specifically the heel strike—creates the strongest venous return known, making it crucial for lymphatic circulation.

2. Head position affects the entire body's function

The position of your head has far-reaching effects throughout your body. When your head is in the correct position, perched effortlessly on top of your spine, you can move with maximum efficiency. A forward head posture creates significant problems—a 5kg head tilted forward 15 degrees effectively weighs 12kg, and at 30 degrees it weighs 18kg.

This misalignment affects not just the neck but potentially any part of the body. The site of pain (knee, hip, back) may not be the source of the problem—it could be your head position. By finding the position where your head has maximum rotation (the "wibbly wobbliest" place), you can improve movement throughout your entire body, from shoulders to pelvis.

3. Foot awareness and mobility are crucial for movement efficiency

Many people have lost connection with their feet due to modern footwear. "Foot wiping" (rubbing your feet on textured surfaces) helps wake up the sensory nerve endings in your feet and improves balance. This simple practice has measurable positive effects on your movement patterns.

When you wipe one foot vigorously while standing on the other, you're also training balance and stability. This creates movement that your system must organize to prevent falling. People who practice foot wiping often see improvements in back problems, hip issues, and other pains that seem unrelated to the feet, demonstrating the interconnection of the whole body.

4. Tracking width affects movement efficiency and stability

The space between your feet as you walk or run ("tracking width") is critical for efficient movement. Many people have a too-narrow tracking width when running, essentially running on a tightrope with one foot in front of the other. This creates strain on the outside of the lower limb from the foot through the ankle and knee to the hip and back.

The ideal tracking width allows you to feel the full breadth of your forefoot as you roll through it. Having your feet positioned properly under your hips—left foot on the left side, right foot on the right side—gives innate tension to both sides of the pelvic floor and improves overall stability and efficiency in movement. Proper tracking width can help resolve various issues including IT band problems, knee pain, and even stress incontinence.

5. Stress incontinence is often related to breathing mechanics

Helen has never encountered anyone with stress incontinence who didn't also have poor breathing mechanics. Many people with stress incontinence have tried Kegel exercises (strengthening the pelvic floor muscles) without complete success because they're not addressing the whole system.

The pelvic floor is like a hammock or diaphragm that works in coordination with the breathing diaphragm. When you inhale, your breathing diaphragm moves down, and ideally, your pelvic floor should also move down. When you exhale, both move up. Many people instead hold their abdominal muscles tight, creating dysfunctional pressure in the abdominal cavity that can contribute to incontinence.

6. The body functions as an integrated "tin can" or "jelly can"

Helen describes the core as a "tin can" or "jelly can" where the pelvic floor forms the bottom, the breathing diaphragm forms the top, and the abdominal muscles form the sides. All these structures must work in harmony to create proper intra-abdominal pressure and allow for efficient movement.

When the breathing pattern is dysfunctional (like holding the stomach in all the time), it can squeeze this "can" and increase pressure that may lead to hernias, prolapse, or stress incontinence. Working on improving the coordination between the diaphragm and pelvic floor through awareness and breathing exercises can help restore proper function and reduce symptoms.

7. Pain is often not where the problem originates

The site of pain is frequently not the source of the problem. For example, knee pain might be caused by limited foot mobility, or back pain could stem from head position issues. This interconnectedness means that treating only the painful area often fails to resolve the underlying problem.

When experiencing pain on one side of the body, it's not uncommon that the painful side is actually doing more work than the non-painful side. Rather than focusing only on the painful area, it can be beneficial to "wake up" the other side to do its fair share of the work. This perspective shifts the approach from "fixing" the painful area to balancing the whole system.

8. Movement awareness is the foundation of improvement

Before trying to "fix" movement problems, it's crucial to develop awareness of how you're currently moving. Simple observations like noticing where your head sits, how your feet move when walking, or whether your shoulders are level can provide valuable insights into movement patterns that may be causing problems.

This awareness allows you to recognize when you fall into problematic patterns and gives you the opportunity to make adjustments. For many people, simply becoming aware of these patterns and making small changes can lead to significant improvements in pain, efficiency, and overall movement quality.

9. Modern lifestyle affects posture and movement patterns

Our modern way of life has led many people to develop movement patterns that aren't optimal for the body's design. Constantly looking down at phones, wearing cushioned footwear, sitting for long periods, and habitually holding in the stomach for aesthetic reasons all contribute to dysfunctional movement patterns.

These habits disconnect us from our natural ability to move efficiently. In cultures where people carry items on their head or regularly walk barefoot, there's often greater awareness of posture and movement. Reconnecting with more natural movement patterns can help restore efficiency and reduce pain and dysfunction.

10. Movement improvement is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix

Improving movement isn't about finding a perfect position or doing an exercise once. It's an ongoing process of checking in with your body, becoming aware of patterns, making adjustments, and continuing to refine your movement. Even when an issue improves, it's valuable to periodically reassess and potentially make further improvements.

This "MOT" (maintenance) approach recognizes that the body is always adapting to the demands placed on it. Rather than seeking perfection, the goal is continual improvement and adaptation. Small, consistent adjustments often lead to greater long-term improvements than dramatic one-time changes.