It was great to hear some of the thoughts on backward running, especially Gary Foley’s on how backward running “brings great delight to your quads.” I'd like to take this backward motion a little further. When you begin reading about the benefits of backward motion, you will understand there are many, but the one I'd like to spend a little time on is knee health. Backward motion is often prescribed to reduce the mechanical stress on the knee e.g. patellofemoral joint compressive forces.

Having had 4 operations on my left knee, I like many have found the knee to be problematic and be the cause of a lot of pain. However, what I've done is to begin backward walking up my steep driveway at least 6 times a day (~50 m), for over a year now. Every time I do this I get a quad burn (quads working hard) and everybody who does this with me – feels the same. What befuddles me is that I've not adapted to this backward hill walking – the burn persists.

Outcome - anecdotal and no empirical evidence but my left knee hasn’t felt this good for years. Try it and see what you reckon. You might get a few crazy looks, but it could be gold for you also.