A Quick Hack To Fix Your Posture & Support Your Pelvic Floor
Are you walking the right way?
Kass
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Beauty & Health Editor
Beauty & Health Editor
Hannah Frye is the Beauty & Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.S. in journalism and a minor in women’s, gender, and queer studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Hannah has written across lifestyle sections including beauty, women’s health, mental health, sustainability, social media trends, and more. She previously worked for Almost 30, a top-rated health and wellness podcast. In her current role, Hannah reports on the latest beauty trends and innovations, women’s health research, brain health news, and plenty more.
Image by Stocksy | Javier-Díez August 15, 2024 We carefully vet all products and services featured on mindbodygreen using our Our selections are never influenced by the commissions earned from our links. Are you sitting up straight right now? I know I wasn’t before I wrote that sentence. I’d argue, most of us aren’t much of the time—but we know this. What we don’t often discuss is how our posture looks when we walk—because if you’re standing up straight when you walk, that means you’re good, right? According to Jana Danielson, a pelvic floor expert, and Pilates instructor who recently appeared on the mindbodygreen podcast, walking posture is much more complex than it seems. What’s more, your posture matters for more reasons than how you look; it’s an often overlooked piece of the health puzzle. To come, how you can hack your walking for better posture and why you should. 
How to walk for better posture
Here’s the general idea: “60% of your weight should be on that big, heavy calcaneus bone at the back of your foot,” says Danielson.
The remaining 40% should be distributed across the forefront of your foot, where your toes connect to the rest of your foot. “The toe pads should have very little if any, weight on them,” she explains.
Placing most of your weight on the front of your foot shifts your body positioning forward, causing you to lean over your feet rather than align with the rest of your body.
For this same reason, so many foot health experts recommend steering clear from those uber-cushioned shoes that place all the support in the back, leaning your foot forward in the shoe.
This forward lean can lead to added tension in your neck, contributing to chronic headaches, TMJ issues, and neck pain, according to Danielson. “It’s no wonder we experience these issues with a forward head posture.”
Put it to the test:
To identify leaning posture, have a friend take a video of you walking six or seven steps on the street. Then, take another video being mindful of your posture and compare the two—this way, you can easily identify where you can make tweaks.
Yes, posture plays a role in your health
When your body is properly aligned, essential processes like breathing can happen more smoothly, as there’s less pressure on the diaphragm. This alignment also allows your pelvic floor to function correctly:
“The pelvic floor is like the downstairs roommate of the diaphragm. Once the diaphragm starts functioning properly through breath work, the pelvic floor wakes up automatically,” Danielson notes.
The pelvic floor plays a crucial role in many bodily functions. When it’s compromised, it can lead to problems such as incontinence, constipation, difficulty urinating, chronic back pain, and persistent tight hips.
So yes, your posture matters for overall health—and that includes your walking posture. Keep most of your weight on your heel and relieve pressure from the tips of your toes. Ensure your head aligns with your neck, and you’re on the right track.
The takeaway
While your sitting posture is certainly important, we often overlook our walking posture—which is equally essential for optimal well-being. Walking with the majority of the weight on your back heel and less on the front of your foot will help you align your body through a bottom-up approach. This pays off in many ways, especially to support your pelvic floor.
For more pelvic floor and posture tips, tune into the latest podcast episode. You can watch on YouTube or listen in on Apple Podcasts.
