Nordic walking has benefits for general health and fitness

I came across a study that targeted the relationship between Nordic walking and generally healthy people (middle-aged). Apparently, most research on Nordic walking’s benefits emphasized the sport’s positive benefits for people with chronic and other health conditions, and researchers have not put as much effort into the generally healthy segment of the population. This study sought to add to that part of understanding Nordic walking.

The research participants came from “the sport society ‘Nordic walking in Italy,’ specifically with the headquarters of Venice.” I believe they’re referring to the organization at this website: https://www.nordicwalkinitaly.it/

Interestingly, the participants were 72.7% women and 27.3% men. This ratio is similar to the composition of my Nordic walking group on Facebook.

Main points:

• “The aim of the present study was to value the effectiveness of a period of NW [Nordic walking] training in counteracting the aging effects on body composition, BIVA [bioelectrical impedance vector analysis: a common approach to measuring body composition]patterns and functional parameter measurements (resistance, handgrip and lower body strength) in a healthy middle-aged population.”
• “NW seemed to be a good, complete and safe kind of activity. The practice of NW has several benefits, not only for clinical populations, and it could be considered as a primary preventive kind of activity. In addition, it is an easy kind of physical activity that everyone could practice and could improve social interaction and cohesion.”
• “It would be important to encourage its practice not only to older people but also to younger people because it is an easy sport that anyone could practice anywhere they want.”
• “…green space represents an ideal environment which promotes PA due to its easy accessibility and no cost…green spaces are generally underutilized, and visitors are often engaged in low levels of physical activity during their visits.”

More about it:

• Background
• “…3.3 million people die annually worldwide due to physical inactivity…one of the five leading risks for mortality globally because it is responsible for increasing the risk of chronic disease and cancer.”
• “…it is important to identify forms of physical activity that are easily accessible and that can be performed by a large number of people to improve fitness and health status.”
• “NW [Nordic walking] has a lot of important benefits for people, such as resting the heart rate, blood pressure, exercise capacity, maximal oxygen consumption and quality of life. For these reasons, NW is suitable for prevention, and nowadays, it is more and more frequently recommended for the elderly…there are no studies which consider NW [Nordic walking] and body composition together in healthy middle-aged and elderly population.”
• The problem
• “In the middle-aged and elderly population, one of the main problems to counteract is the decline in lean mass and the increase in fat mass, in addition to the decline in strength…decline of body composition increases the risk of age-related diseases.”
• Results
• Body composition
• Women
• Decrease in fat in the triceps and biceps area
• Decrease in subscapular fat (fat in the area of the shoulder blades)
• Decrease in supraspinal fat (area above the spine)
• Decrease in hip circumference
• Decrease in fat around the calf
• General decrease in fat mass
• General decrease in bodyfat percentage
• Increase in arm muscle size (indicates more strength)
• Men
• Decrease in subscapular fat
• General decrease in fat mass
• General decrease in body fat percentage
• Physical fitness
• Women
• More squats (standing up from a chair) performed in 30 seconds
• More laps walked during the 6-minute walking test
• No significant change in handgrip strength
• Men
• More squats (standing up from a chair) performed in 30 seconds
• More laps walked during the 6-minute walking test
• Health indicators
• Increase in measures that indicate reduction of inflammatory biomarkers and more positive cellular health
• Increase in cellular hydration (absorption of water by the cells needed for effective function and antioxidants)
• Attitudes
• Men had a greater preference for outdoor physical activity and spending tax dollars on nature parks than women.
• Women had a greater preference with interacting with others in nature parks than men.

Why it matters

• “NW is a more complete activity than normal walking, due to the use of poles that involve the upper part of the body…conventional walking only improves cardiorespiratory fitness and the resistance training improve muscle strength, so NW could be a combination of the two kind of activities and provide improvements to each of those components.”
• “NW could also be considered a primary kind of prevention.”
• “NW seemed to be a good, complete and safe kind of activity.”
• “NW could answer two human needs: the importance of the use of green urban space and the possibility to easily perform physical activity. It is an easy kind of physical activity that could be done by anyone and everywhere in the green urban space.”

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