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An Introduction to Nordic Walking

Nordic walking has its roots back in Finland in the early 1930’s, as an off season training method used by competitive cross-country skiers. The development of Nordic Walking into its present form, as a recreational physical activity for all, started in Finland in the early 1980’s. In 1997 the Nordic Walking concept was launched in conjunction with the Finnish Central Association for Recreational Sports and Outdoor Activities.

INWA – The Nordic Walking Association was established in 2000 and quickly paved the way for the introduction and implementation of this activity globally. The popularity of Nordic Walking has exploded across Europe where there are around 4.5 million regular participants – and the sport looks set to repeat this popularity in the UK, where already several thousand people have tried it via a nationwide network of instructors. The appeal of the sport is based on its effectiveness as a workout, the attractiveness of getting out and about in the great outdoors, its suitability for participants of all fitness levels and its ease to suit all age levels.

Nordic Walking has 10 stages of instruction, the first four being ideal to increase the pleasure of walking, with the added benefits of giving the body a full workout. The remaining stages of instruction are ideal for the serious walker who may wish to treat it as a serious sport, then onto the sportsperson who can compete in events around the UK and globally.



Nordic Walking will provide a total body workout, utilizing more muscles than running or swimming – with up to 90% of the skeletal muscles involved – and burns many more calories than normal walking. In fact only cross-country skiing comes close to Nordic Walking in terms of delivering the most complete body workout available. Studies have shown that, although you can walk faster and burn more calories through Nordic Walking, it actually feels even easier and more comfortable than normal walking at the same speed.

Nordic Walking, is a form of conditioning training, which when performed using the correct technique

1: High blood pressure: (after 6 weeks of training the blood pressure is reduced by 5-10% and remains that way as long as the training is continued, and will not climb back again until 6 weeks after ceasing the training.
2: Osteoporosis: The effect is as least as good as hormone replacement therapy which is in any case no longer generally favoured, (NICE guidelines and British National Formulary).

3: Arterial Diseases: Coronary Heart Disease and Peripheral Vascular Disease because of improved function of the endothelium, (cells lining these vessels) allowing the systems which control the blood supply to operate efficiently. Exercise has also been shown to actually improve arterial disease by causing plaques to resolve.

4:Metabolic Disorders: Diabetes and hyperlipidaemia, (high blood levels of harmful fats) through reduction of blood sugar levels due to improved utilisation of sugar and reduction of dangerous insulin resistance as well as a reduction of the harmful fats LDL cholesterine and triglycerides, together with increased levels of protective HDL cholesterine.

5: Obesity: It is widely agreed that successful, lasting weight reduction can best be achieved by a combination of exercise, specifically condition training, combined with a healthy diet. Nordic Walking is a particularly efficient form of fat burning which is both easy and enjoyable. Few people will give up the sport once they start, probably because overtraining and exhaustion are normally extremely unlikely. Reduction of excess body fat and cellulite, and toning your figure can be fun!

6: Varicose veins: Improved due to the "muscle pump" action of walking. Nordic Walking encourages this particularly due to increased range of joint movement.

7: Depressive Illness and Stress: Studies have shown that any condition training can improve depression. This may be due to enhanced production of endorphins, in the body, the natural "mood elevators" Our bodies produce stress hormones in order to enable the "Fight or flight" reaction.
Because we are rarely confronted with bears jumping through the window these days, these hormones are often at an inappropriately high level for long periods of time and can cause a variety of problems such as raised blood pressure and disorders of heart rhythmn.

8: Disorders of the locomotor system: Recent research has shown that there are virtually no reasons for not exercising joints. Rare examples include active short-term joint inflammation. Whereas any form of condition training can improve joint function and relieve pain and discomfort, Nordic Walking along with Aqua Fitness is one of the very best ways of achieving this, and is particularly useful for disorders of the spine including spondylosis and disc disease, degenerative changes of the hips, knees, ankles and shoulder. Many rehabilitation clinics use Nordic Walking as part of the mobilisation
process immediately following removal of stitches after shoulder surgery! Because cartilage has no blood supply of its own, it relies on compression and relaxation movements for its nutrition. The healthy, evenly spread, continuous loads on the joints of the body during Nordic Walking are ideal for achieving this important function. Finally, recent research has shown that the best way to wear a joint out is not to use it!!

9: Migraine: Some forms of migraine due to disease of the neck can respond very dramatically to Nordic Walking!

10: Lung Diseases: Due to the dramatic improvement of posture associated with Nordic Walking, many people with these distressing conditions find an improvement in their symptoms. In particular, reduction in lung volume due to spinal deformities, perhaps resulting from old fractures is often improved.

11: Brain Function: Very recent research has even shown that physical activity maintains brain function due to preventing deterioration of the synapses, (the "wires" that connect our 120,000,000,000 brain cells!)

12: Immune System: Condition training has been shown to improve the state of the immune system.

13: Nordic Walking has helped to alleviate dyslexia.

“Walking for Health”

Walking is a rhythmic, dynamic, aerobic activity of the large skeletal muscles, which confers the multifarious benefits of this activity with minimal adverse effects (Jeremy N. Morris and Adrianne E. Hardman). Walking at a rate faster than customary, frequently and regularly, taking the participant into the “ training Zone” of over 70% of maximum heart rate, develops and sustains physical fitness; the cardiovascular capacity and endurance for bodily work and movement in everyday life that also provides reserves for meeting exceptional demands. The muscles of the legs, limb girdle and lower trunk are strengthened and the flexibility of their cardinal joints preserved; posture and carriage may improve.

Any amount of walking, and at any pace, expends energy: Hence the important long-term potential of walking for weight control. Dynamic aerobic exercise as in walking enhances a multiple of bodily processes that are inherent in skeletal muscle activity, including the metabolism of high-density lipoproteins and insulin/glucose dynamics. Walking is also the most common weight-bearing activity and there are indications at all ages of increase in related bone strength.

The pleasurable and therapeutic, psychological and social dimensions of walking, whilst evident, have been surprisingly little studied. Nor has an economic assessment of the benefits and costs of walking been attempted.

Walking is beneficial through promoting improved fitness and/or greater physiological activity and energy turnover. Two main modes of such action can be distinguished: (1) acute, short term effects of the exercise: and (2) chronic, cumulative adaptations depending on habitual activity over weeks and months.

Walking is often included in studies of exercise in relation to disease, but it has seldom been specifically tested. There is, nonetheless, growing evidence of gains in the prevention of heart attack and reduction of total death rates, in the treatment of hypertension, intermittent claudication and musculoskeletal disorders, and in the rehabilitation after heart attack and in respiratory disease.

Walking is the most natural activity and the only sustained dynamic aerobic exercise that is common to everyone except for the seriously disabled or very frail. No special skills or equipment are required. Walking is convenient and may be accommodated in occupational and domestic routines. It is self-regulating in intensity, duration and frequency; and having a low ground impact, is inherently safe.

Unlike so much physical activity, there is little, if any, decline in middle age. It is a year-round, readily repeatable, self-reinforcing, habit-forming activity and the main option for increasing physical activity in sedentary populations.

Levels of walking in modern societies are often low. Familiar social inequalities may be evident. There are indications of a serious decline of walking in children, though further surveys of their activity, fitness and health are required. Some of the downsides associated with walking in a modern environment relate to the incidence of fatal and non-fatal road casualties, especially among children and old people, and to the deteriorating air quality due to traffic fumes, which mounting evidence implicates in the several stages of respiratory disease.

Walking is ideal as a gentle start-up for the sedentary, including the inactive, immobile elderly, bringing a bonus of independence and social well-being. As general policy, a gradual progression is indicated from a slow to a regular pace and on 30 minutes or more of brisk (i.e. 6.4km/h) walking most days. These levels should achieve the major gains of activity and health-related fitness without adverse effects. Alternatively, such targets as this can be suggested for personal motivation, clinical practice, and public health.

The average middle-aged person should be comfortably able to walk on the level for approximately one mile (just over 1.5km) at 6.4km/h, and on a slope of 1 in 20 at 4.8 km/h. However, many cannot do so because of inactivity-induced unfitness. The physiological threshold of “comfort” represents 70% of maximum heart rate. Trials across the age span are required in primary care and community programs to evaluate such approaches, and the benefits and costs more generally of possible initiatives towards more walking.

Walking by quantity and pace, is under-researched, particularly in the middle-aged and elderly. Randomized controlled trials are required of its physiological effects on blood pressure, thrombogenesis, immune function; and of walking in the prevention and/or treatment of non-insulin dependant (type 2) diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and back pain.

Low levels of walking are a major factor in today’s widespread waste of the potential for health and well-being that is due to physical inactivity. This waste is manifest in impaired functional capacities, overweight, disease, disability, premature death and the concomitant human and economic costs. This review seeks to assemble evidence of the health gains of walking as a resource for the multifarious professionals and students, practitioners, investigators and policy makers.

Reproduced by kind permission of Nordic UK

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