NORDIC
POLE
WALKING
ChronicPain
Management
Peter Abaci MD
discusses Chronic Pain
Management & Treatment
on American Health Journal
Peter Abaci, MD is one of the world’s leading experts on pain. He is the author of Take Charge of Your Chronic Pain: The Latest Research, Cutting-Edge Tools, and Alternative Treatments for Feeling Better, host of Health Revolution Radio, and regular contributor to WebMD, The Huffington Post, and PainReliefRevolution.com.
Do I Have Chronic Pain?
Just about everyone feels pain from time to time. When you cut your finger or pull a muscle, pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Once the injury heals, you stop hurting.
Chronic pain is different. Your body keeps hurting weeks, months, or even years after the injury. Doctors often define chronic pain as any pain that lasts for 3 to 6 months or more.
Chronic pain can have real effects on your day-to-day life and your mental health. But you and your doctor can work together to treat it.
What Makes You Feel Chronic Pain?
The feeling of pain comes from a series of messages that zip through your nervous system. When you hurt yourself, the injury turns on pain sensors in that area. They send a message in the form of an electrical signal, which travels from nerve to nerve until it reaches your brain.
Your brain processes the signal and sends out the message that you hurt. Usually the signal stops when the cause of the pain is resolved — your body repairs the wound on your finger or your torn muscle. But with chronic pain, the nerve signals keep firing even after you’ve healed.
CHRONIC PAIN BY THE NUMBERS
Throughout the World
1 in 5 people suffer
from chronic pain
Chronic pain compared
to other major diseases
in United States
Video shows benefits of Nordic Pole Walking, while Featuring scenes from the McClellan Nordic Walking Club
Each step provides:
- Better Posture, Balance and Walking Gait
- Activates 90% of your body musculature
- Increases levels of Dopamine, new brain cells, helps self-regulate brain to calm down
- An Aerobic Resistant/Cross motor exercise generates better Brain Function
- Reduces 30% stress and pain from back, hips, knees and ankles, improves Endurance
- Improves Immune, Vascular and Lymphatics
- Burns 22-47% more Calories than regular walking
- Strengthens and balances the Para- Spinal Muscles
- Improves your mood and restful SLEEP
Other benefits of Nordic Walking are:
- Increase in exercise endurance
- Increase in good (HDL) cholesterol
- Increase in insulin sensitivity
- Increase energy level
- Increase muscle strength and flexibility
- Increase in relaxation – restful sleep
- Reduction in body weight
- Reduction in blood pressure
- Reduction in bad (LDL and total) cholesterol
- Reduction in bad (LDL and total) cholesterol
- Reduction in blood sugar levels
- Reduction in side effects of medications (steroids
- Reduction in depression
- Reduction in shortness of breath
Less Stress, Less Pain
Changes of Physiological Responses between
Nordic Pole Walking and Regular Walking
Walking with Nordic Walking Poles 3 times per week
Cooper Institute Studies, Dallas Texas
2007 |
Men* |
Women* |
---|---|---|
Oxygen Consumption Increase: |
20.0% |
21.3% |
Caloric Expenditure Increase: |
19.9% |
19.3 |
Heart Rate Increase: |
8.2% |
4.0% |
* Increases with Nordic Walking compared to regular walking
Subjects were 45 to 61 years old, the majority were women.
Neck, Shoulders and Upper Back Pain
Most of our days are spent at work sitting at a desk doing repetitive motions of our neck, shoulders and upper back causing muscle rigidity and pain. This chronic muscle tension and pain in these areas can be tolerated for months, but can lead to serious health conditions that can affect your work and your daily lifestyle.
Comes with quick release ergonomic gloves engineer for comfort. When you use proper Nordic Pole Walking technique recommended by the American Nordic Walking Association with a long arm swing. You will strengthen and relax your neck, shoulders and upper back muscles with each stride increasing circulation, flexibility and reducing pain.
Anttila 1999 compared Nordic Pole Walking with regular walking training for 12 – weeks on 55 female office workers.
E.M.G – measurement showed that electrical activities in muscles in the neck, shoulders and upper back were significantly higher when walking with poles.
Polo walking training diminished neck and shoulder symptoms and pain.
Increased mobility of upper body.
Less impact on Joints
Performing the correct technique recommended by the American Nordic Walking Association keeps up to 26 percent body load off your knees, hip joints and lower back. This is why Nordic Pole Walking is the best activity for people who suffer from these conditions and others. There are over 350 Medical studies showing the Health and Fitness Benefits of Pole Walking. Mayo Clinic (2008), Young – Hoo Kwon (2008)
The purpose of the study was to determine whether walking with poles reduces loading to the lower extremities compared to regular walking.
Three – dimensional gait analysis was conducted on 13 healthy adults who completed 10 walking trials using three different poling conditions. Results did show there were differences in kinetic variables between walking with and without poles.
The use of walking poles, enabled subjects to walk at a faster speed with reduced vertical ground reaction forces, Vertical knee joint reaction forces, and reduction to the Knee Extensors angular impulse and support moment, depending on the condition used.
Load Reduction
Edward R. Laskowski, M. D, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA, Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist.
Walking poles take some of the load off your back, hips and knees, which will be helpful if you have arthritis or back problems.
The arm movement also fosters balance and stability.
Mechanics of Pole Walking in Subjects with Chronic Knee Problems
Young-Hoo Kwon, Lori R. Bolt, and Jackson Shi, Ball State University Muncie, Indiana USA (2008)
Knee joint range of motion. Decreased significantly (12.2%) during the swing phase due to the use of the walking poles, Mainly caused by the decrease in the maximum knee flexion angle during the swing phase(10.9%)
The maximum hip hyper extension angle was also significantly different between the conditions. Ground reaction force variables only peak vertical propulsive force was found to show a significant difference between the walking conditions.
Lower Trunk Benefits
Exercising with Nordic Walking Poles works the lower spinal trunk muscles with every walking step, in combination with the slight natural rotation of the upper body. The deep-lying muscles which stabilize your spine become stronger. This results in a decrease of lower back tension, pain and will give you more flexibility and better balance. This will also keep your spine in an upright position enhancing your posture.