June 29, 2022 – A new study in people with heart disease shows that Nordic walking – think cross-country skiing without the skis – improved their mental and physical health more than other types of training.
Researchers used a 6-minute walk test to measure the “functional capacity” of 130 study participants, which examines how hard a person can exert themselves in physical activity.
According to Tasuku Terada, Ph.D., of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ontario, Canada and colleagues.
Over 26 weeks, mean changes in 6-minute walk test distance went from around 55 to 60 meters for moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity to more than 94 meters with Nordic walking, the researchers found. researchers.
The conclusions were published online June 14 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
“If someone is looking for a different kind of exercise, I think Nordic walking can easily be adapted for people who need Nordic walking poles, and it turns Nordic walking into a full-body exercise,” says Terada. “Besides using your legs for walking, Nordic walking also adds exercise for your upper body. You use your arms to move forward, which can lead to greater energy expenditure.”
There’s plenty of support for increasing exercise and physical activity in patients with heart disease, which improves quality of life, exercise capacity, mental health, and reduces depression, says Carl “Chip ” Lavie, MD, of the University of Queensland School of Medicine in New Orleans.
“It has huge potential benefits on long-term prognosis, especially for patients who have posture, gait and balance issues. The potential use of poles with Nordic walking can allow many patients to engage their upper body more and therefore achieve greater benefits. regarding improving exercise capacity,” says Lavie, who co-authored an editorial on the study.
The study included patients with coronary heart disease who were undergoing rehabilitation following various cardiac procedures. There were 29 patients randomly assigned to high-intensity interval training, 27 to moderate-to-vigorous intensity continuous training, and 30 to a Nordic walking group. The average age of the three groups was around 60 years old.
