Dear LPG, 

The most successful way to age without worrying too much about it is to get on with your life while learning to accept the changes that happen to you as you get older.  I suppose that has to be what is meant by adopting a positive mental attitude if you want to continue moving forward.

For all that, I am now more aware of the pain in my back that, at first, was nearly undetectable but gets a little worse each passing day.  Many of us learn to live with it while continuing to get on with what we have to do and adapting those things as best we can from what I can see. 

I know that I am a little slower when I walk, and I never noticed how much my walk has changed over the years until it was pointed out to me.  Perhaps it is the case that I know I am slower and a bit hunched, but taking too much time to let it worry you is something it is better not to entertain. 

It was when three or four of my friends and family had mentioned it, just in passing, and even though I know I am old and it is to be expected, it began to bother me just a little.  

I looked on the internet and found the usual advice about improving, and Google threw up a lot of predictable suggestions, but I came across a new approach I feel I have to share.

Before I go any further, I have to say that I can see all the impracticalities and downsides of the therapy I found there, but I can also see the potential, and if you start small, as suggested, there could be a lot of benefits to more than the way you walk. 

I have spent a lifetime telling my children and grandchildren that the secret of successful walking is to look where you are going, but there is another school of thought.  It has only been two weeks, but I am trying it on a microscopic scale.  I have found a lot of information about the growing idea that doing a bit of regular backwards walking might benefit your walking, posture, thinking, and a few more aspects of your well-being. 

 I started in my kitchen just like the man in the video I have asked LPG to share suggested, with just a few steps a day, and while the kitchen worked top and a chair are recommended, I have added another safety factor.  I have added the services of a neighbour’s eyes to do the visual safety checking for me during my few daily backward steps, and then we swap, and she uses mine.   

We plan to make a video diary of how or if our walking improves.  We both doubt whether it will make any difference, but my garden path is getting a lot more use, and it is a perfect way to do something that appears very silly. 

There is a lot of laughing involved.  

I hope not too many other neighbours watch us through their upstairs windows…

NS, Bromley 

NS offers some information she has found on the benefits…

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… but strongly suggests you start here if you want to try it for yourself…

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