Is Backwards the Better Forwards?

When people jog backwards through the park holding their phone, many will recognize this new social media fitness trend. This year, running backwards has achieved viral popularity. Among other things, it is said to improve posture and coordination as well as burn more calories than traditional running. Overall, there are plenty of recommendations on the Internet to “turn around” everyday actions, or perform them in a different way, in order to improve cognitive and physical performance.

One common recommendation is to use the non-dominant hand more frequently, so that right-handed people will write, brush their teeth, and chop vegetables using their left hand. This is supposed to boost the right side of the brain which is connected to the left hand. Unfortunately, however, it is not that simple, says Sebastian Ocklenburg, professor for research methods at the Medical School Hamburg: “There is no magic solution that will make the entire brain or one of its hemispheres better, smarter or more brilliant.”

Fast legs, slim upper arms
In his basic research in the field of biopsychology, Ocklenburg studies, among other topics, the asymmetries between the hemispheres of the brain. “If you frequently use your left hand to brush your teeth, you will eventually improve your ability to guide the toothbrush with your left hand.” While there is a training effect, it is a very specific one. The researcher compares it to the effect that regular running has on the body: “The legs will become better at running fast, but the upper arms will not increase in size.”

One interesting fact: the regular use of the non-dominant hand can also lead to a slight improvement of the dominant hand when it comes to performing the respective task. This is known as the bilateral transfer effect. According to Ocklenburg, it is based on the fact that the motor cortices of both brain hemispheres – those parts of the brain responsible for the control of voluntary movements – are very closely connected. Brushing teeth or chopping vegetables with the left hand can further provide the right-handed person with a placebo effect: sometimes, breaking routines and trying something new simply feels good.

From right to left, from down to up
“sdrawkcab gnikaeps tuoba klat s’teL” This sentence is not a glitch of the keyboard. It has been typed backwards, and it makes sense if read from right to left. This requires additional cognitive effort. As such, brain-jogging guides recommend spelling words backwards or reading texts vertically in order to keep our brains on the ball. Not a bad idea, finds Mathias Scharinger, professor for phonetics at Philipps University of Marburg: “Training reading and writing backwards can only be beneficial; for the working memory as well as for refining one’s sensitivity for language.”

Scharinger studies how speaking backwards works. Being a novel area of research, few studies are available. What’s known is that working memory plays a crucial role in this ability; “In order to imagine a word or a sentence in reverse order, this information must be available cognitively for a period of time and then translated into the reverse order.” To a degree, this can be practiced; however, humans come with different basic aptitudes. The second prerequisite for speaking backwards is an “understanding of language at the level of phonetics as well as orthography”, says Scharinger.

And of course, lots of practice is needed by those who aim to master speaking backwards. Like Bernhard Wolff, entertainer and speaker from Berlin. Wolff has mastered the most difficult form of speaking backwards – acoustic backwards speaking. “Here, one not only reverses the order of sounds, but also the individual speaking processes which generate the sounds”, explains Scharinger. A sentence spoken backwards in this manner sounds, once recorded and played backwards, like a sentence spoken in the regular way. For the training of working memory, it is sufficient to practice simple orthographic backward speaking – by reading a word, letter by letter, from back to front.

Allow us to jump back to the beginning of the article – no pun intended. To some degree, this social media trend is actually reliable as regular backwards running can indeed have positive effects: the altered motion pattern exercises the quadriceps muscles and, according to a study, lessens knee pain in osteoarthritis patients. The muscle at the front of the thigh is responsible for stretching the leg, and in people who do a lot of sitting, this muscle is often not well developed. Further studies indicate that running backwards can help reduce back pain as well as improve balance and posture. Also, the prefrontal cortex is activated more strongly than during normal walking. It is responsible for problem solving and the perception and awareness of space and time.

Does this mean that backwards is the better forwards? And left is the better right? Well, if you pursue realistic goals, it can be rewarding to do things “the wrong way around” from time to time.