Walking In Opposition (WIO) happens ‘naturally’, we don’t think about it at all. WIO is the technical name for what our bodies do when walking forwards. To be clear, as you step forward (or back, which we’ll get to in a moment) with either leg and then land your foot, the opposing shoulder and arm move in opposition to that leg motion. This is done for a few reasons but the primary one is all about balance and equilibrium. The opposite arm acts as like a pendulum, and that tiny ‘swing’ that happens tends to keep us straight and upgright. However, when we’re walking backwards, we tend to not do this, we end up doing what’s called “Homolateral Motion”. Meaning that the same side of the body walking moves as one. So if the Left Leg is moving, the left arm is moving backwards or forwards. This is NOT desirable. Ideally what we want when walking backwards is to use WIO going forwards OR backwards.