Nordic Walking For Parkinsons

Parkinson’s and Nordic Walking in Medway

A Better Medway are delighted to be working with Parkinson’s UK, British Nordic Walking and the local authority, Medway Council for another year, to deliver the opportunity to people affected by Parkinson’s. The project has been running since 2020 and has set it’s vision on getting more people exploring Medway, especially by walking.

Your local course in Medway offers:

• Free Training and Equipment Hire.
• Allow you to try Nordic Walking for the first time.
• Discuss how to maximise the benefits of this exercise.
• Offer a tailored walking sessions up to 60minutes, you choose how long you walk for.
• Give you on going walks with a regular schedule.

Benefits to Health of Nordic Walking in itself is great for your overall health, improving your body’s use of the heart and lungs, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure and helping blood sugar regulation.

Nordic Walking in particular can help you maintain a better posture and keep you more upright. At the same time, taking longer strides can gently stretch your limbs and keep your body rotated, which can help you loosen up and improve your coordination.

If you feel that you tend to walk slower and take smaller steps, Nordic walking creates a steady beat to improve your pace. It can also make exercise fun and social when done in a group.

… “I think it’s an excellent activity to help with specific Parkinson’s problems. For me it’s helped with restoring what had become very poor and often absent arm swing, making my shoulders move, having developed very reduced shoulder movement and maintaining heel-toe foot movement preventing a shuffling action” …

Why is Nordic Walking an effective and enjoyable exercise for people with Parkinson’s?

Nordic Walking is a valuable exercise tool for people with Parkinson’s because of:

• The focus on the correct gait technique.
• Large amplitude training from the intensification of normal walking.
• The repetitive movements driving neuroplasticity.
• Exposure to outdoor environments to build confidence.
• Cardiovascular and general fitness benefits.
• Increased stability from the use of two poles on the ground.
• Challenging coordination to help build dual tasking abilities.
• Improvement in upper limb strength as well as lower limb strength.
• Weight bearing exercise improving bone density.
• The social interaction of group activities… and it is FUN.

What do Nordic Walkers who are living with Parkinson’s have to say?

Richard Cliff, INWA Nordic Walking Instructor and Champion for Parkinsons UK shares his experience: 

Why Nordic Walking?

“Before the ‘why’, and for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the term, what is Nordic Walking?

Put very, very simply, it’s walking with the addition of two specially designed poles that enhance regular natural walking. It’s a very accessible activity and can be shared by people of differing fitness, and has no age limits.

So the question, why, and what are the benefits? 

Well, it’s a recognised fact that exercise does play an important role in slowing the effects of Parkinson’s, and Nordic Walking has growing evidence of its suitability for both movement, stature, and boosting self-confidence.

From one who knows, the benefits have been impressive. It has increased my awareness when walking to use the whole body and improves my posture, keeping me up straight, and gives me a better stride (or gait) to my walking. For me, I found that within a short space of time I had developed a better awareness of my posture and walk even without the poles, a point noted by both family and friends.

So yes, I’m absolutely convinced it’s a fun form of beneficial exercise which will get you off the sofa and with self-confidence to come into the big outdoors! “

Research Paper: Effects of a flexibility and relaxation programme, walking and Nordic walking on Parkinson disease. Reuter et al 2011.

• Nordic Walking is superior to just walking in improving gait pattern, reducing heart rate and postural stability.
• Exercise has been shown to improve neural plasticity, promoting axon outgrowth and increasing synapses in the brain. Nordic Walking has the ability to stimulate an increase in the above changes due to the increased demands on coordination with the poles.
• Nordic Walking technique was difficult for some patients to learn: 17 patients performed great technique, 10 performed good technique and 3 performed poorly. This highlights the need to be taught how to Nordic Walking correctly and to have regular reviews by an International Nordic Walking Federation (INWA) instructor. Learning is also best achieved with intensive input – regularly three times a week is good to aim for.
• All patients that learned Nordic Walking continued regularly after the research project was completed and set up their own social groups to walk in, including their partners and friends.