THEMmaginate a fresh snowfield, while you are ready to slide with the sticks in hand. And now eliminate the white coat from the mental scene and think in your neighborhood, on the promenade or on a country path to walk by imitating the movement of cross -country skiing. This is more or less the Nordic walkingthat someone will seem a strange practice, even embarrassing out of the slopes, but not to doctors and sports experts. The discipline, increasingly popular in Germany and northern Europe, It beats the traditional walk on several fronts. Everyone is advised to grind kilometers on foot and a review just published on The Lancet Public Health concludes that Seven thousand steps a day could reduce the risk of mortality by 47 percent For all causes.
There is no doubt, Walking is a fabulous exercise. But it is the legs that do the bulk of the work, while the upper part of the body lets itself be transported. “When Marci stimulates the muscles under life,” says Aaron Baggish, a cardiologist of Massachusetts General Hospital, affiliated to the University of Harvard. “When Add the ergonomic sticks, involve 90 percent of your muscles and increase yours energy expenditure». With Nordic Walking yes they burn from 18 to 67 percent more calories. It is as if the walk was brought to a higher level, as if you went to the gym to make treadmills and a little weight lifting. A complete training. The US experts of the Cleveland Clinic they explain that to be solicited, in addition to quadriceps and calves, are the back muscles (dorsal species and trapeze), of chest (like pectorals), of shoulders (including deltoids) and arm (in particular forearms and triceps).
The waist falls
With many action muscles, the heart is required to pump more blood throughout the body. It is not surprising that a recent study confirms how Nordic Walking can improve cardiovascular function and the quality of life in people with coronaropathy (on Canadian Journal of Cardiology2022). “Cardiovascular exercise is combined with intense training,” continues Baggish. The differences between Nordic Walking and a quick walking walk have been measured in some experiments, as in a clinical study conducted by the University of Verona. The researchers compared the effects of the two activities in sixty -year -old volunteers who also followed a low -calorie diet. After six months, everyone was slimming, But only those who had trained with the sticks had reduced the total body fat mass, the fat of the belly and legs. The final consideration, in the publication on Clinical Interventions in Aging (2019), is that “Nordic Walking can be a primary tool for counteracting obesity and overweight in middle -aged adults”.
More stability
Among other things, there is no overload on the joints. Each single stick planted with a failed slightly reduces stress on the legs and, when you travel kilometers, the effect is of a lower wear of ankles, knees and also. And this makes sport an excellent option even for those suffering from pain in the legs or hips. “By advancing age, the risk of falls becomes one of the main concerns for the health and autonomy of the individual and it is here that the walk assisted by the sticks proves to be a precious resource, for the movement itself and for the safety that guarantees” explains the physiatrist doctor Luigia Bruglie, head of the motorized motor rehabilitation unit of the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. «We are more stable, because two points of support for traditional walking are added. In people with Parkinson’s disease, Nordic Walking can encourage the recovery of the physiological step, contrasting postural instability and marching in small steps, often associated with the pathology. The rhythmic and balanced movement, associated with the support of the sticks, facilitates the fluidity of the movement ».
It is a discipline accessible to many, but Bratliera recommends “always evaluating the clinical condition, especially in the presence of orthopedic or neurological pathologies, or after a recent trauma, for example against the wrist or shoulder”. Perfect in rehabilitation, the data of the scientific literature are generous with Nordic Walking, born in Finland in the thirties of the last century as off -season training for cross -country skiers. It seems to be associated with reductions of LDL cholesterol (bad, in jargon) and triglycerides. Like any type of movement, even more so in the open air, he pulls the mood on the mood. At the Santa Maria Nascente Center in Milan of the Don Gnocchi Foundation, it is testing themselves in the rehabilitation therapy of over one hundred patients with diabetes and obesity returning from a heart attack and other cardiovascular events. The first results show positive effects on inflammation levels, metabolic parameters and physical performance and appear higher than standard treadmill -based programs and exercise bikes. In addition to the clinical benefits, the current research aims to underline the economic sustainability of Nordic Walking. “It has low costs and can also be offered outside the healthcare facilities, with benefits on public spending and the quality of life of citizens” says Anna Torri, an internist doctor responsible for research. “If the final data confirm the preliminary ones, the Don Gnocchi Foundation will aim to spread the large -scale protocol, integrating it into prevention and rehabilitation programs”.
How to start
Nordic walking uses the upper body to advance. And the push with the sticks leads to keep a faster pace. According to some estimates, you can proceed at a speed up to 25 percent higher than the regular walk. “The secret is to swing the arms as if they were pendulums, keeping the elbows relatively straight and planting the stick behind him, pushing while the opposite leg advances” explains Michael Schaefer, rehabilitation doctor at the Cleveland university hospitals. «The advice is to start 15-20 minutes three times a week and increase up to an hour. The basic movement can take some time to get used to, but online videos or the instructors of a group are helpful ». To be indispensable is the purchase of the minimum ad hoc equipment. Without, we can’t talk about Nordic Walking.
Unlike trekking sticks, equipped with large straps that surround their wrists, the Poles, as they are called in English, have a system similar to a gut attached to each auction. By sliding the hand inside, the palm is used instead of the fingers to advance with an effective push. In Italy there are opportunities to go to the group, with the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) and other organizations. But you can start on your own: only the two suitable sticks are needed, learning to keep up with the right step. At that point you just have to choose the path. Nordic Walking is practiced above all on a flat, on regular or slightly wavy soils such as hilly paths. The ideal are the parks and sidewalks. At the sea? Maybe on the shore, but not on the soft sand.
Six tips to start well
Here is a technique developed by the “International Nordic Walking Federation“For a” natural and biomechanically correct walk “
1. The sticks are not stretched forward but remain on the sides and tilted backwards.
2. The sticks touch the ground on the side of the leg during the pace, using the light support of the stick to go forward.
3. Arms and legs move alternately: the right arm moves forward while taking a step with the left foot, and vice versa.
4. Take longer steps than normal.
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6. There is no need to tighten the stick too much, relax your hand when it is not pushed to the ground.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Vangeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and scientific popularizer. On Iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you will find its podcast series The good I want to.
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