If you’re wondering why people use walking poles these days, then you’re in the right place. This post explains the main benefits of using walking poles and how they can improve your physical wellbeing as well as the overall enjoyment of your walk.
Until recently, walking poles were seen as accessories used exclusively by hikers in forests or in alpine environments. But now, their proven benefits have seen people begin to use poles while walking on city streets. It’s easy to see why. For a start, w alking poles can help to prevent injuries and chronic back pain because they improve your posture while you walk. This will become most apparent to you when you’re walking uphill; without walking poles, you probably lean forward and as you do, you place more strain on your back. But when you use poles while making your way up the hill, you can stand in a straighter and more natural stance, which significantly reduces the impact on your back muscles.
Walking poles are also helpful in minimising damage to your joints, with your knees being the biggest beneficiaries. Poles help to spread the workload across a range of muscle groups and take a lot of the load off your legs; when this happens, you eliminate the stress on your long-suffering knees. Another positive side-effect of spreading the load across muscle groups is that it greatly reduces fatigue and allows to comfortably walk for longer.
Walking poles also help you get more out of your walk by exercising more than just your legs. They can give your upper body an excellent workout which will help you burn even more calories. And with winter here, we mustn’t forget that walking poles can provide extra stability on challenging terrain, which at this time of year includes wet and slippery footpaths and walking trails. A set of poles will definitely help you keep your feet when all around you seem to be losing theirs!
That’s why you now see more and more people using walking poles. They certainly deliver a wide range of benefits, and we have a range of poles that’s just as impressive. What you select will depend on whether you want to use poles on your morning walk through the neighbourhood, or do something more strenuous on a forest or alpine hiking trail. So think carefully about how you’ll use your poles before you decide to buy. By making the right choice, you’ll get much more out of your walk or hike.
