How to walk downstairs without knee pain

Jennifer used to be a keen hill-walker. She was never happier than up in the hills taking in the majestic distances of the surrounding scenery. Every holiday was spent walking in the hills.

After a minor car accident she found her left knee began to give her trouble when walking back down the mountain. At first it didn’t stop her but, gradually, she found it more and more difficult. The walks became fewer, shorter and less frequent until, still only in her early fifties, she found she could no longer do it. Of all the things she can no longer do, her loss of the hills remains her greatest regret.

The irony is Jennifer could have still been enjoying her hills now if she had known what to do to walk downhill without knee pain.

Walking downhill is very little different from walking downstairs — and it’s easier to get the practice. So I’m now going to give you your first lesson in how to walk downstairs without knee pain.

And you do it with a concept called ‘Lazy Tension’.

Lazy Tension: What could that be?

Walking downstairs without knee pain requires Lazy Tension. Lazy Tension is a taut, easy readiness for action. It’s as different from stiffness as white is from black. Since I’ve described Lazy Tension in detail in earlier articles, I’ll leave you to read them if you haven’t already.

You can find them here:
Lazy Tension: How to move with effortless efficiency
The key to getting rid of knee pain is knowing why you get it

In this article I’m concentrating on what you need to do once you’ve read them. The first thing is sitting preparation.

Sitting Preparation

This too I’ve described in more detail before. That’s in this article:
How to be “in the zone” when working at your desk

What follows here is a shortened version of those instructions.

Sit on a kitchen or dining chair. If it doesn’t have a flat, level seat, put a telephone directory on the seat to correct this. Perch on the front edge of the seat with your feet flat on the ground. Lean well forward and drop your heels gently into the ground.

Notice how it makes you sit taller and lighter. Yes, I know it’s very hard on your knees. With practice, that will change.

If the above didn’t work for you, don’t try doing it again just yet. Wait until you’ve gone back and followed the full instructions in the above-mentioned article.

The article continues with showing you how to get to your feet. Let’s continue with the summary –

Pressing your heels more firmly into the ground, lean forward some more and come gently to your feet.

If this works for you, great. If it’s just not working at all, don’t despair, I am short-cutting a very great deal of preliminary work that I do with my Alexander Technique clients. Drop me a line telling me about yourself and exactly what happened when you tried this. I’ll help you.

This is where the previous article stops. What to do when you’re on your feet is new territory.

Now you’re on your feet

Assuming getting to your feet worked, you’ll probably find yourself standing in a very strange way. If it also feels quite light, then good: the stranger it feels the better. Stay with that strangeness as you walk around. If you lose the strangeness it’s because you’ve gone back to your old ways. Try again another time.

The essence of this stage is to stay with that strange way of standing. Once you’ve got used to the strangeness, let it stay strange as you walk over to the top of the stairs.

Down the stairs

If you need to, take a light hold of the bannister rail.

Step down just one step.

Now that really hurt, didn’t it? What have we done wrong?

The worst part of pain is expecting it

Expecting pain makes you stiffen. Frozen on the spot, you get pain; trying to relax you get pain. Any way you try to avoid the pain, you’ll get more of it.

Accepting that a movement will hurt and just moving anyway is the way to go. (The pun is deliberate).
… oh you didn’t get the pun?
Never mind, let’s move on.

You need to accept that the movement will hurt and just move anyway. When you do, when you just move without bracing against the pain, you do indeed get the sharp stab of pain that you expected
… but then it’s gone — and the rest of that movement is surprisingly easy.

Once you realise this and get so you don’t fear that sharp stab of pain, you probably won’t get it any more.

You already know that pain is a warning signal telling you that something is wrong. That’s absolutely true but do you see how this gives you a new understanding of that truth?

When you tried to get rid of the pain, you were attempting the impossible. Your body was giving you that warning signal, telling you you were doing it wrong. Now that you’ve stopped doing that, the pain goes.

The moral of the tale is this: the thing you were doing to try and get rid of the pain is what the pain was warning about. Once you stop doing that, the pain stops too.

That’s the plain truth of the matter.

Dealing with pain

We need to learn to work with the pain in a less difficult situation than on those steep stairs. Let’s start again from sitting in the chair.

This time place another pair of telephone directories, both of the same thickness, side-by-side on the floor. They will serve you as a shallow step to practise stepping down off.

Sit on the chair just as before.
Stand up just as before.

Now, instead of walking to the top of the stairs, stand on the two directories. Remember to stay standing in the strange way you got up. As long as it feels lighter than usual, you’re doing extremely well.

Next, step off the very shallow step you’re standing on. You will need to go back and practise that until it becomes easy. When it does, construct a slightly higher step and use that. Gradually, you’ll be able to work up to stair height.

The importance of patience

Remember, all this is going to take a lot of practice. If you’re happy doing this yourself, that’s fine. Most people, though, will need a lot of help with all this from an Alexander Technique teacher. If you don’t have lessons you will need a lot of input from me. Even if you do have lessons with another teacher, you may still need further input from me. Any way you choose is okay with me. I only ask you to be prepared to be patient. The process will take the time it takes and trying to hurry it will not help.

What we’re doing is exploring just how much you can manage without lessons. If you don’t get very far, don’t be hard on yourself. Find a teacher and get the individual lessons you need.

Stick to it and do what you need to do to learn. Do that and you will learn.

Taking to the hills

Once you can walk down the stairs with no pain, walking in the hills should no longer be a problem either
… but don’t wait until then.

Don’t wait until you have no more pain. At first take a stick if you need to. Take every opportunity to get out onto a hillside and practise walking again. First five minutes, then ten. Don’t over-stretch yourself. That way, every time you go can be a new little victory. I look forward to hearing of your first re-conquest of a once-familiar peak.

This article is included under the following categories:‒

Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley

If you want to get the best kind of help, come to me for an introductory lesson in Liverpool.

If you’re too far away, then the next best thing is to get personal lessons and advice from me online at Repoise.com, my on-line school. (Both far-away and local pupils use Repoise).

In more detail:–

If you’re in Liverpool (or can get to Liverpool)

There’s nothing better than individual lessons. My practice is at 37 Hope Street, Liverpool L1. Ring me on 0151 708 6172 to book an initial consultation and first lesson. (Leave your number so I can get back to you).
If you’re short of funds, you can still have first class training from me — though it will require a little more work on your part.

The thing to do is have an individual, in-person lesson just once a month. That will entitle you to also get regular on-line lessons from me through Repoise. That way, you have the best of both worlds: in-person lessons and very regular, even daily, on-line Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley from me. That’s a real bargain because Repoise costs the equivalent of three lessons a year to everyone else.

Ring me on 0151 708 6172 if you want to arrange this.
I occasionally run group lessons. If you’re interested in these, go here for details.

If you’re further away and can’t get to Liverpool

There’s still nothing better than individual lessons. Here’s where you can find a teacher near you in the UK or elsewhere
I suggest you also get direct day-to-day guidance from me by joining Repoise.
If you’re having plain Alexander Technique lessons from someone else, you still need to discover the Smiling Back Method of the Alexander Technique. You’ll get a lot more out of your lessons when you do.

37 Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside L1 9EA, England
Telephone: +44 151 708 6172 Mobile: +44 7872 905 154

Philip Pawley

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