Walk yourself to health - part 2 - Applying the physiology of gait to real life

Let’s say you take 10,000 steps in a day. Wouldn’t it be great if each one was done with good bio-mechanics and movement wellbeing?

Today, we start week two of four focusing on the philosophy and embodiment of what it takes to enjoy a healthy gait. That’s a gait that is graceful, relaxed and efficient.

Poor mechanics in gait can lead to physical tension and potential injury and you risk compounding existing injuries. It can also ‘jar’ the body with each step so you end up feeling compacted (and perhaps shorter) at the end of the day.

Get it right however and you can boost your energy, heal from many of those aches and pains and reclaim your true height.

What goes wrong?

There are many factors that can lead to a negative change in your body’s natural structural integrity. And these changes can affect the quality of your gait. These include:

• The over use of chairs as this shortens key leg muscles (that’s study, office work, dinner time, TV, social time, etc).
• The above point often encourages the head to drop and vision to look down when reading, writing or using a computer. This pattern can then be copied when walking.
• Different phases and circumstances of life can alter levels of self confidence, which can affect alignment and how you walk.
• An absence of a balanced exercise programme (that includes a weekly practice of strength, cardio and flexibility). 
• Conversely, over-exercising can lead to stiffness and fatigue.
• Injures that have not yet been given enough attention and focus for healing.
• Stress and over-thinking that can lead to a lack of body awareness in gait and life in general. This is linked to…
• A heavy gait from striding out perhaps when late and thinking of the future
• Under-hydrated. Unless you are good at keeping up with water and electrolytes your tissues may have dried out some what.

Put just some of these together and before long the body’s tissues and joints become compressed, miss-aligned and sore. But if I had to choose just one main cause for gait being compromised and therefore difficult to do well, it would be:

TOO MUCH SITTING

Why? Because your ankles, knees, hips and pelvis and many surrounding muscles and connective tissues get short and weak! And, unless you sit well, your spine and shoulders, breath and organ health can also get compromised. What’s the fix?

First up, please sit less!

But then we need to bring attention to the body’s base

The ankle joint is where the main shin bone (tibia) meets the talus (the foot bone that sits just in front of your heel bone). Supporting the entire body above, the ankle is clearly an important area to look after.

In many of our Dojiva Mobility classes but even lots of our more dynamic fitness classes, you’ll hear me talk about the Aston Patterning concept ‘Base of Support’. Well, the ankle is the mothership of support every time you’re standing, walking, running or doing any sport/exercise.

To enjoy a good sense of ground, support, foundation and dynamic direction, you need ankles that are strong and supple. But beneath the ankles let’s not forget that we have about a quarter of our whole body’s bones in the feet!

As you take a step and weight bare, the 26 bones in each foot flatten out and this is called the foundation mode of gait. Then comes the propellor mode which is the recoil… the push off. If the feet/ankles are too stiff, you’ll lack flexibility and even a basic ankle hinge is difficult. Too loose here however and you’ll be more susceptible to turn on your ankle and fall over.

As always, the secret lies in a balance of tone and mobility and this week’s classes have a focus on that including how to embody the anatomy and physiology of ankle mechanics and good walking technique.

What else to do now?

Aside from this week’s classes, I invite you just to be more conscious of your gait in daily life. And this includes going up and down stairs, so be sure to check out Ergonomics video 8. 

That’s it for this week, thanks for reading.

Take care

Danny

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Here are this weeks recommended cluster of Dojiva classes

Sunday 7th Sept 2025 - Ergonomics 02 - Gait basics, then…

Ergonomics 08 - Going up and down stairs

Monday 8th - Workout 107 - Today's class is not too slow, nor too fast and could have easily landed in the mini fitness category. We begin with a series of leg challenges without much rest and we have pulses at the end of each set. Then, when we work the upper body, we still use the legs! (My quads and glutes certainly new about it all the next day)!

Tuesday 9th - Mobility 84 - A class that connects foot to crown. When we initiate movement from the ground and feel it travel in sequence through the body, then we set ourselves up for great efficiency. Later in the class, we ‘wear’ different gaits to find your most buoyant best!

Wednesday 10th - Meditation 50 - For present moment peace… just give your mind a well earned rest! Gentle movement and soothing music followed with a guided meditation.

Thursday 11th - Workout 09 - This full length class has eight sets of strength training plus four rounds of intervals. Warm ups have weight transfer and cross-crawl/gait exercises, plus our Dojiva walking lunge!

Friday 12th - Mobility 115 - This class is a complete rehab and strength journey for feet and ankles.

Saturday 13th - Mini fitness 85 - Ideally you will use a solid garden bench for many of today’s exercises. However a strong chair or a low coffee table will do and a variety of options will be useful. The intervals are not done too fast, rather you keep going at a steady pace for 45 - 60 seconds.