Catching Up with Nordic Walking

A global sport makes headway here

It sometimes seems as if certain sports come out of nowhere. For example, there’s pickleball. Although started back in 1965, it was thanks to the pandemic with its social distancing dictum and the spacing determined by the game’s court that people started to flock to the sport as something fun and safe to do. Accordingly, the number of pickleball players has soared to many millions. (Personally, I find the TV trend these days of showing pickleball matches after tennis tournaments sort of a jolt to the eyes, but whatever.)

But I digress. Our HWF topic today is not pickleball, it’s about yet another surprising sport—Nordic Walking. This started much longer ago, in the thirties when Finnish athletes developed it as a summer activity to keep them in skiing shape. Popularity took time, however—not until the 1990s did Nordic Walking begin to pick up steam globally. Today it has some ten-plus million fans and numerous intense competitions taking place around the world, including a World Cup series. And let us not overlook the fact that May is now Nordic Walking month!

Much to my surprise, I discovered that compared to the international fervor, Nordic Walking hasn’t made much of a dent in this country. Even some of the savviest fitness people I know hadn’t heard of it. And so, I am stepping up to the Nordic Walking plate, letting you know what it is and why it is quite an extraordinary activity for everyone, and in particular for aging bodies.

Physical benefits all around

Nordic Walking appeals to the young, but for older fans, it is a true blessing. It provides an excellent, all-body workout, as we will see, and it is low impact, making it kind to the body, including the joints. Various studies in the UK and elsewhere have demonstrated that NW improves general health, strengthening bones and muscles, cardiovascular health, and circulation, and helping fans keep weight under control. All those physical advantages, and it improves mental health as well. Obviously Nordic Walking takes you outdoors, often in sunshine, which is cheering. Plus, it’s fun! Lots of people find it entertaining to walk in groups where socializing abounds.

Nordic Walking is not at all like ordinary, everyday walking. First of all, while for regular walking you use only the lower body, NW works both your upper and lower body muscles. In fact, to do it correctly, you put 80 to 90% of your body’s muscles to work, enhancing core stability and back strength. This is because an integral part of NW is the use of poles, as I will explain. NW is also associated with improved cholesterol profiles—i.e., lower LDL and higher HDL—and it helps relieve chronic pain including that from arthritis. You can expect to develop more muscle strength and flexibility. Should you be recovering from a lower-limb injury, to the hip, knee, or ankle, your physical therapist might make NW part of your rehab. Again, because NW incorporates poles, it reduces the pressure on your lower joints, allowing you to stay in shape as you heal, quite a trick.

Expert speak …

To learn more about this intriguing activity, I talked to Sonja Johansson, a movement therapist and Nordic Walking teacher in New York City. She tells me she calls NW “a neuroprotective exercise” because it works your brain as well as your body. NW uses alternate leg/arm movements, in other words, right arm forward as left leg goes back and vice versa. Sonja explains that this helps the brain optimize how the body moves. “Your body knows how to move better than it often does, because we tend to interfere with it,” she says. “Nordic Walking ensures that both upper and lower body are equally involved and that the head sits high and still. This helps your body learn to stabilize itself.”

She adds that if you allow your head to bob rather than being still, as we tend to do, it “messes with the vestibular system.” This is the system that allows for the coordination of eye movements, posture, and equilibrium—the feeling of being physically stable. When the system doesn’t work right, you end up feeling dizzy. (A Sonja tip: If you start to feel dizzy, especially if you suffer from vertigo, “lock your eyes onto something around you—this will bring you back to stability.”)

Parkinson’s disease has long been controversial as to NW training. Sonja has worked one-on-one with numerous PD patients. Her finding, along with many studies, is that those still in PD phase one do well. However, to be sure it is safe, she usually starts PD patients in their home, preferably walking on carpet, and they train from there. Practicing NW helps PD patients with their gait, smoother walking, and an upright posture. Walking with poles eases their movements because, as Sonja puts it, “They are walking with four legs instead of two.”