We all know exercise is good for us. Pain and discomfort are among the leading reasons why people shun physical activity, with knee pain and plantar fasciitis being repeat offenders. But Dr Milica McDowell, a physiotherapist and co-author of Walk: Your Life Depends On It, says there are two simple – if slightly left-field – walking techniques you can use to reduce pain and discomfort in your lower body. These are walking backwards and walking barefoot.“Walking backwards can be very helpful for people with knee pain,” she says. “Often, people who have knee pain are weak in their quadriceps muscles or their core. Walking backwards changes the pattern in which the muscles are firing, emphasising these weaker muscle groups.“In practitioners that are evidence-based, it’s pretty common for us to put someone with knee pain on a treadmill and do a few minutes of backwards walking – you can hold on, it’s safe and I can control the pace. Then we’ll switch back to forward walking.” This practice builds strength in areas previously lacking, balancing the body to help it function without pain. It’s important to do it in a safe, controlled environment such as on a treadmill or track, however.To protect against knee pain, Dr McDowell suggests sprinkling a small amount of backward walking into your regular walks.“If you’re going for a 20-minute walk, you might try doing two or three minutes of that walking backwards,” she says. For those suffering with heel pain or plantar fasciitis, Dr McDowell suggests a similarly simple and accessible practice. “Another thing that’s very surprising to people is, if you have heel pain, plantar fasciitis problems or plantar fasciopathies, barefoot walking can be very helpful,” she explains. “That sounds terribly counterintuitive – ‘My foot hurts, shouldn’t I wear a giant cushioned shoe?’ But what’s interesting about research in this area is that, if we walk barefoot, we land more softly. A lot of the time, people who have plantar-fascia problems are landing super hard and they're in a very narrow shoe so the muscles [of their feet] aren't working. “If the muscles aren’t working, the tissues are getting overloaded, and it becomes this really terrible inflammatory tug of war at the foot.”Dr McDowell says the research in this area focuses on people walking on soft surfaces such as grass, and if you want to try barefoot walking, she recommends seeking out a spot that is safe and comfortable for your feet. Read more: The unexpected but simple ways to reduce low back pain, according to a top sports therapist