No snow? No problem. Nordic walking—think cross-country skiing without the skis—is a full-body workout that burns more calories than regular walking and with less stress on your hips and knees, say companies that sell the poles.
The poles add to the calorie burn, scientists say, but two recent studies found no evidence that walking with poles takes stress off the joints.
Nordic walkers stride along, planting a pole on the ground as the opposite foot comes down and then swinging the pole behind them. While similar to hiking poles used for balance and stability on difficult trails, walking poles are mainly for use on easy trails or neighborhood streets, say the companies that sell the poles.
The poles typically cost $70 to $200 for a pair. Germany's Leki Lenhart GmbH says its most popular pole, the Instructor, sells for $150.
Walking poles, typically made of aluminum and sometimes an aluminum-carbon blend, have removable rubber tips for quieter walking on pavement. Most poles have hand straps to give leverage with each stroke, and come in either fixed length or adjustable-height models, which companies say are great for people who vary the terrain they walk on and for beginners who need to experiment to find the ideal height. Handles are designed for comfort during the Nordic motion; Keenfit Ltd., of Kelowna, British, Columbia, makes them of a moisture-absorbent cork.
Kenneth Cooper, the 80-year-old founder of Cooper Aerobics Center Corp., a Dallas health-and-wellness company, says the poles are ideal for seniors with balance or stability issues.
The benefit of Nordic walking, says Tom Rutlin, founder of Exerstrider Products Inc., is a full-body workout that engages muscles in the back and arms. The Madison, Wisc., company sells walking poles with an instructional DVD, but there are many videos on YouTube and lessons available that teach people the technique.
A 22-person study at the Cooper Institute, a preventative-medicine research group founded by Dr. Cooper, found that Nordic walking burns on average about 20% more calories than regular walking.
The study, published in 2002 and funded by Finnish pole maker ESB Sports Oy, found some individuals had a calorie burn as much as 63% higher than they did walking at the same speed without poles—but that is the "extreme" only, says study author Timothy S. Church, now director of preventative medicine research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.
I tried Nordic walking for the first time, using borrowed poles from Exerstrider and Keenfit. Since I'm a cross-country skier, I got the hang of it almost immediately and worked up a sweat pretty quickly. It definitely felt like I was burning off some serious calories, but I doubt I burned as much as claims on some websites: Exerstrider says you can burn "up to 70%" more calories with each step.
Exerstrider's Mr. Rutlin says the company's claim is based on the company's own unpublished research.
Scientific evidence that walking with poles reduces the load on the knees and hips is scant. An Austrian study of eight experienced hikers on a steep ramp found that planting both poles in front them every three steps reduced forces on the knee by as much as 25%.
In that study, the hikers were leaning forward and putting a significant amount of weight on the poles, says study author Hermann Schwameder, a professor in the department of sports science and kinesiology at the University of Salzburg. That isn't how Nordic walking poles are typically used.
Two recently published studies by Danish researchers found that pole walking on flat ground didn't reduce the load on the knee joint. That's because Nordic poles are placed at an angle to the ground, the researchers said.
"The force you are transmitting through the poles is quite low," says Tine Alkjaer Eriksen, a researcher studying biomechanics at the University of Copenhagen.
Mr. Rutlin of Exerstrider recommends a walking technique in which the arm is stretched out with each step, as if you were reaching out to shake hands, and the pole is nearly vertical to the ground. He says this technique takes more weight off the joints than the European style of Nordic walking tested by the Danish researchers, in which the poles are placed at a much smaller angle to the ground.