Summary: Researchers report that the impact of the foot during walking produces pressure waves that influence blood flow to the brain.
Source: Experimental Biology 2017.
Researchers show that the foot’s impact during walking helps control and increase the amount of blood sent to the brain.
Walking is widely recognized for its physical benefits to the heart, lungs, muscles and overall fitness. New research from New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) highlights another important benefit: the mechanical impact of the foot striking the ground generates pressure waves that travel through arteries and alter cerebral blood flow (CBF). These findings, presented at the APS annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago, suggest that simple ambulatory motions contribute directly to the dynamics of blood supply to the brain.
Historically, cerebral blood flow was assumed to be tightly and largely autonomically regulated, with limited short-term sensitivity to exercise-induced blood pressure changes. Prior NMHU studies and related work, however, showed that the high-impact forces produced while running (4–5 G) create retrograde pressure pulses—waves that travel backward through the arterial system—and that these pulses can become synchronized with heart rate and stride rate to influence brain perfusion.
In the current study, the research team measured internal carotid artery blood velocity and arterial diameter using non-invasive ultrasound in 12 healthy young adults. Measurements were taken while participants stood upright at rest and while they walked at a steady pace of approximately 1 meter per second. From arterial diameter and velocity data the investigators estimated hemispheric cerebral blood flow to each side of the brain and compared changes between rest and walking.
The investigators found that, even though walking generates lighter foot impacts than running, those impacts still produce significant arterial pressure waves that increase the delivery of blood to the brain. The magnitude of the increase in CBF during walking was smaller than the increases observed with running, but it was clearly greater than the changes observed during cycling—a common exercise mode that lacks the repetitive foot impact associated with walking or running. That comparison emphasizes the role of cyclic foot impacts, not just general cardiovascular exertion, in modulating brain blood flow.
According to the authors, “New data now strongly suggest that brain blood flow is very dynamic and depends directly on cyclic aortic pressures that interact with retrograde pressure pulses from foot impacts.” The research team describes a continuum of hemodynamic effects across common locomotor activities: pedaling, walking and running each produce distinct patterns of mechanical pressure and resulting cerebral perfusion. They propose that these mechanically driven changes in blood flow may help optimize brain perfusion and function during movement, and could contribute to the subjective sense of wellbeing people often report while walking or exercising.
First author Ernest Greene noted that it is surprising the hydraulic effects of foot impacts on cerebral blood flow have not been measured and discussed more widely until now. He explained that walking produces an “optimizing rhythm” between stride rate and heart rate during brisk movement, such that foot impacts and cardiac cycles commonly fall within overlapping frequency ranges. This alignment may enable the pressure pulses from each step to interact constructively with cardiac-driven arterial pressures and, in turn, modulate cerebral perfusion.
The study underscores a practical implication: regular walking may provide neurological benefits beyond those explained solely by metabolic or cardiovascular improvements. Because walking is accessible, low-cost and widely recommended for health promotion, understanding its direct mechanical effects on brain circulation strengthens the rationale for including steady ambulatory activity in public health strategies and individual lifestyle plans aimed at supporting brain health.
Source: Stacy Brooks – Experimental Biology 2017
Image source: NeuroscienceNews.com image used for illustration and attributed as public domain in the original report.
Original research: Findings were presented at the Experimental Biology 2017 conference in Chicago (April 22–26, 2017).
Experimental Biology 2017. “How Walking Benefits the Brain.” NeuroscienceNews. Published April 24, 2017.