Think about your belly button when walking.
Why this matters:
The abdominals are often the area that people associate with the core. Having core strength and control is crucial with everyday activity. Core activation is even more important while walking. When people think about core control while walking, they’ll often visualize walking like a stiff board. But truth be told, walking should be fluid, and there should be enough arm swing to allow the hips to move freely. But how can we do that? If you think about your belly button while walking, you’ll have enough rotation in your body to reduce shear force and pain. If you don’t have that motion, the hips will move independent of the shoulders, causing excessive twisting and nerve irritation.
Action steps:
Your belly button should move with your pubic bone (the area just south of your bladder). So with every step, the belly button should be moving side to side, ideally towards the forward foot. Try thinking about this for about 1 minute while you’re walking. It may feel awkward, but you’ll notice the pain will go down. Let me know how it goes.
