How to Walk Up Stairs without Pain

Walking Up Stairs

As a matter of safety, going down stairs is more problematic than going up stairs. As a matter of energy expenditure, going up stairs is more problematic than going down stairs. Lifting the body weight takes more energy than lowering it, although it takes less balance. Because of the energy required in ascending stairs, many people have a hard time. The difficulty with climbing stairs can be so significant that it requires people to move from a home with more than one level to a single level home when they get older. Otherwise, chair lifting devices are often needed to help people move from one floor to another. Walking up stairs also is a common cause of pain, particularly in the knees. This type of pain is directly related to the technique used to walk up stairs, and it affects people of various ages, not just the elderly. This discussion is an excerpt from The Walking Code Online Course. I will be referencing the Core Techniques during each phase of walking up stairs. The Core Techniques are the foundation of the Walking Code and explain the specific combinations of core movement we use to accomplish basic functional tasks. To learn more, check out the Walking Code Course be clicking the link at the end of this post or check out the Todd Martin MD YouTube Channel.

Placing the Foot on the Step

When going up stairs, the first requirement is to put the foot on the first step. This same movement would apply to stepping up onto a curb or other small elevation. Performing this task following a normal step requires first transitioning to the single leg balance position over the standing leg. This is the same position required before going down stairs. Since this was reviewed in the last chapter, it will not be repeated here. The first new part of the sequence is placing the foot onto the first step. That is where this chapter will begin.

Placing the foot onto the first step following the single leg balance position uses the Core Technique of Push to shift the body forward and place the swing leg on the step. See the above image.

Core Technique: The Core Technique of Push is used to place the foot on the step. When placing the right foot on the step, Push with extension of the left hip and torsional rotation on the left is used. This pushes the weight forward from the single leg balance position while continuing to bend the swing leg knee so it will clear the step. See Figure 58.

Core Technique: Push

Hip Action: Extension of the standing leg hip
Upper Torso: Turns toward the swing leg
Lower Torso: Turns toward the standing leg
Knee Action: Flexion of the swing leg knee
Ankle Action: Plantarflexion of the standing leg ankle

Hip Action: When stepping up with right leg, we transition from the single leg balance position over the left leg by extending the left hip. The left hip will push off the ground and in conjunction with the torso rotation will shift the body forward.

Upper/Lower Torso: The Push action, as seen before, has torsional rotation on the side of the extending hip. As the left hip extends, the upper torso will turn forward on the left and the lower torso will turn back on the left. This action will cause the left arm to swing forward during the movement.

Knee/Ankle: The right knee will flex as the weight is pushed forward. This allows the right leg to clear the stair.

Change of Weight

Once the foot has been initially placed on the first stair, there is no weight on it, so the body cannot be lifted yet. Before lifting, the weight must be changed from the rear leg on the ground to the forward leg on the stair. That uses the Core Technique of Reach Back. Changing the Push to Reach Back requires changing the lower torso rotation from left, rooting the left leg, to right, rooting the right leg. This will shift the weight slightly forward and lower the right forefoot, at the same time rooting that leg to the stair in preparation to rise. The hip energy is still on the rear leg. Their is no attempt to push up yet at this point. See Figures 59.

Core Technique: Reach Back:

Hip Action: Extension of the rear leg hip
Upper Torso: Turns toward the forward leg
Lower Torso: Turns toward the forward leg
Knee Action: Flexion of the forward leg knee
Ankle Action: Dorsiflexion of the forward leg ankle

I will not go into detail on on each of the separate core and peripheral actions here. The feeling of changing weight should be like tucking the pelvis on the side of the leg on the stair. This is the action of the lower torso rotation. It pulls the pelvis up and back on that side to root the leg on the stair.

Compression: Initial Rise

After the weight/root is changed to the right leg on the stair, the center of gravity is still too far back to lift the body. There is another movement required to fully shift the weight forward to a position where it can be lifted. My tango coach, Ive would call this phase of a movement the compression. This weight shift is achieved by turning the upper torso forward on the right, shifting the weight forward on the right leg and causing an initial rise of the body. See the above image. This rotation of the upper torso turns the Reach Back Core Technique to Reach. The upper torso is now turning in the direction of the extending hip and the lower torso is turning away from the extending hip.

Core Technique: Reach

Hip Action: Extension of the swing leg hip (on the bottom stair)
Upper Torso: Turns toward the swing leg
Lower Torso: Turns toward the standing leg (on the top stair)
Knee Action: Flexion of the standing leg knee
Ankle Action: Plantarflexion of the standing leg ankle

Core Technique: The rotation causing this shift of weight is hard to visualize with the eye because the torso keeps facing directly forward. Part of the visual evidence of the rotation is the forward swing of the arm on the side of the leg on the stair. This forward swing is following the rotation of the upper torso. The knee of the right leg will extend slightly from its flexed position because the knee flexion is more pronounced during the previous Reach Back Core Technique than in the current Reach Technique. So although the knee is still actively flexing, it extends relative to the previous flexed position. All of the weight is removed from the rear leg by the end of this movement. See the above image.

Collection

The final lifting of the center of gravity occurs during this phase. This is the phase where extension of the right hip will push the weight up. The previous power was coming from the left hip. This change uses the Core Technique of Push. The torsional rotation of the core was already on the right during the initial rise, but the left hip was pushing. This final push up occurs when the right hip extends. The upper torso will continue turning to the left and the lower torso will continue turning to the right. The right arm will continue swinging forward in conjunction with the right upper torso rotation. The left leg will collect toward the side of the right leg during this final lift since the left hip is no longer actively pushing backward. See Figure 61.

Core Technique: Push

Hip Action: Extension of the standing leg hip
Upper Torso: Turns toward the swing leg
Lower Torso: Turns toward the standing leg
Knee Action: Flexion of the swing leg knee
knee
Ankle Action: Plantarflexion the standing leg 
ankle

Core Technique: This is the second use of Push in the sequence so far. In this case it is used to raise the body up the step. This is the first time Push has been used for this purpose so far in this book. The rise of the body in this case is more from the thigh pushing down than from the knee extending. Knee extension is the mechanism or raising the body with the Lift Technique. In this Push up, the active knee movement is flexion of the swing leg knee. See Figure 61. The swing leg knee flexes as the body rises. This movement is a reflexive part of the Core Technique of Push. So when you are climbing stairs, you do not need to think about flexing the knee to clear the next step. The feeling of this action should be of pushing down with the right leg like pushing down on a bike pedal. The core rotation is already in place following the initial rise, so extension of the right hip is all that in necessary to perform this movement.

Swing Through

Swing Through to Another Stair: After the body is lifted, the final phase of the step is to place the foot on the next step. When climbing more than one stair, this movement uses the same technique as was used to change weight to the original step. That sequence used Push to shift forward to the step and Reach Back to change weight to the step. This sequence uses Push to raise the body and Reach Back to place the weight on the upper step. The pelvic movement from the lower torso rotation lifts the swing leg onto the step and places the weight flat down. See the above image.

Swing Through to Forward Stroll: Following the lifting action of the Push, the swing through can place the swing leg onto another stair or it can complete a step forward if there are no more stairs. This uses the Core Technique of Lift, which lifts the body forward. See Figures 63-65.

This transition, from lifting up using Push to lifting forward using Lift can really help us learn how the core techniques are used in various situations. I have previously described how the standing leg hip flexes to power the swing through phase of a step, even though it appears that the hip is extending behind the body. I explained how it is the combined actions of the torso and pelvic rotation with the hip flexion that result in the forward movement. The step forward after the rise up a stair demonstrates the truth of this. Figure 63 shows the finish of the Push up using extension of the left hip. At the end of the rise, the hip is in full extension. With this being the case, how could hip extension then be used to carry the body forward. The upper and lower torso rotation remain unchanged. It is the change from left hip extension to left hip flexion that causes the body to step forward with the right leg. See Figures 64. and 65.

Summary

Walking up stairs uses three Core Techniques in a repeating sequence. The three Technique sequence following a normal walk is the same as the sequence for going up additional stairs. The Core Technique of Push either places the unweighted foot on the first step or completes the final lift. The Core Technique of Reach Back places the full root onto the step. The Core Technique of Reach then creates the initial lift while getting all of the weight over the standing leg. The cycle starts over with Push to raise the body. When there are no more stairs to climb, Push becomes the final Technique before exiting in a normal forward walk using Lift.