Descending stair walking as exercise medicine
Over the past several decades, muscle damage represented by delayed-onset muscle soreness and prolonged decreases in muscle function has been a central agenda for exercises mainly consisting of eccentric (lengthening muscle) contractions (ie, eccentric exercises).1 However, in more recent decades, the paradigm of eccentric exercise has taken on new dimensions with accumulating evidence suggesting its positive effects on health and fitness parameters, especially by low-intensity, moderate-load eccentric exercises.1 Moderate-load eccentric exercises do not induce as much muscle damage as high-intensity eccentric exercises do, but appear to produce morphological, functional and metabolic adaptations that are important for health and quality of life.1–3 This editorial will discuss descending stair walking as an inexpensive and easily accessible moderate-load eccentric exercise modality, along with its effects on health, functional capacity and body composition. The most abundantly investig
