- You wanna step up your walking program,
make it a little more interesting.
You can try using walking sticks or trekking poles
and if you're not sure what those are
or how to use 'em or what they do, watch this video.
We're gonna fill you in
and I think you'll be very pleasantly pleased
on what you learn.
- I like your phrase. Step up.
- Step up. Exactly right.
So we're gonna go through this quickly
and you know it'll be fun.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- So if you do walk on a regular basis
as a form of exercise,
let's get some terminology straight.
You're not going to get a walking stick.
This is a walking stick.
- A single stick.
- Single stick.
It's made for if you're hiking
and you need something to lean on.
A little bit of assistance.
- With balance.
- But you're not gonna use this to go for a walk
where you get exercise.
It's just not it. So that's it for that.
- It'll slow you down.
- Yep. And it's only on one side, you'll see.
So the other thing is that walking poles.
Actually what we're gonna talk about
is technically trekking poles.
I still like to say sticks, walking sticks,
But it's really trekking poles.
- You can do what you want, Brad.
- Yeah, exactly.
But there's, 'cause I practiced with this
and I did it wrong
and then I did it the right way and I found out,
man this really does help change your walking.
You burn more calories.
You use upper body strength and you have better balance
and posture are the big benefits.
- Less stress on your joints, right?
- Yeah. That as well.
There's a number of things.
So let's take a second and I'll get my thoughts together.
(Bob chuckling)
- So Brad, we have a good friend.
Her name is Terry Knight.
- Terry Knight, yeah.
- And she's the expert on spinal stenosis.
- Which a lot of people over the age of 50 or 60.
- 50, very common.
- Yes. It's very common.
- And what does this do for that?
- Well this allows you to walk more erect, walk farther,
improves your posture and is gonna improve your stenosis
and your pain. - Yeah, it takes some weight
off the back.
- Exactly. So I've divided this up into three topics.
Number one, the benefits.
We've talked about 'em a little bit.
Number two, how to set them up.
And then what to purchase
if you wanna try using your trekking poles.
Okay number one, the benefits.
You're gonna use arm, particularly triceps,
lats. - Lats.
- And core as well, because you're tightening your core
without even being aware of it,
as long as you use 'em properly and we'll go through that.
Next. There's been studies done on this
and you burn up to 20% more calories.
- That's a lot.
- Yeah. Using the poles.
Yeah, so if you wanna burn calories,
which everyone always wants to.
Number three, it reduces the stress
on your knees and your hip joints.
- And also back.
- And the back as well.
And Terry Knight, who is our expert.
You know, really looked into this.
- She'd concur.
- Absolutely. Particularly on hills,
going up and down hills,
that really can work on those joints,
- Bear. - or relax them.
All right, we're gonna go to the next setup for use.
Okay. The second topic is, you know, what should I buy
for these trekking poles or walking sticks?
And we have two samples here
and you can buy these anywheres from $30 to $200.
Obviously, you don't wanna buy $200
if you've never used them before.
Buy a cheaper set and see what you think.
There are aluminum ones, which are heavier,
they're typically cheaper and they're okay.
One thing that's important is they have adjustable straps
and I'll show you that in the setup.
- Most do, right?
- Yes. Yes.
But it's really nice to have numbers,
so that when you make your adjustments to get the height,
it's very handy for that.
We'll talk about that more in the setup as well.
- Easier to reproduce.
- Yep. You can get the carbon fiber ones.
They're a little more expensive, they're lighter.
And if you start with aluminum,
you're probably gonna go into carbon fiber eventually,
cause they're better.
- Well these weren't terrible.
They're like 50.
- Yeah, actually yeah.
They're not too bad actually.
And they're definitely better.
They feel better, everything's better about 'em.
But you can start with aluminum.
- And they come with multiple tips, right?
- Yes. That's an important part.
Like these came with these humongous tips,
which I don't know what they're good for.
So I took 'em off and I put on some smaller tips.
Much better.
I tried-
- Good for tribido.
- Yeah. I tried walking with them with these and then I went
with this and was like, those are going the garbage.
- No dice. Right. But you'll see
there'll be like, some of them have three or four tips
- Some have a point for ice.
- Point for ice.
Yeah, offroad.
Now Teri talks about the ones that have a cushiony tip.
- Right.
- And that takes stress off your joints
every time you hit down.
That cushion is very much appreciated.
- Your back, and your arms.
Exactly. Okay, now let's get into the setup.
The first thing you wanna adjust the height
of the pole properly, stand with good posture
shoulders back, have it so you can move it
like this one's movable and I'm gonna start high like this.
And we want this part of the arm parallel
to the floor or a 90 degree bend in the elbow.
- Forearm level.
- Yep. So that's too high, that's too low.
And right about there.
- Just right.
How's that look Bob?
- Beautiful.
- Good.
So then you simply lock it down
take note at the level it is.
And you have the height.
The next adjustment happens to be pretty
critical to be comfortable with walking.
And that's the strap.
Make sure you get adjustable straps.
Now the more expensive poles have a different system
but the the cheaper ones and these work fine.
You just have to have an adjustable strap
and learn how to adjust it.
You can see I'm making it small
or I can't get my hand in there or larger.
Okay. Typically larger the better.
Depending on your hand.
I got a large hand.
So all the way large is what we want.
Now how you put your hand in the strap is critical.
If you put the strap out like this
and you put your hand from the top down
and grab it like this
that is not how you want to do it.
You're gonna get tired hands.
It's gonna be not productive for your walking.
Pull the strap out like this
you're gonna come up from the bottom.
Like this allowed to go
around your wrist and then between the thumb
and the point in your finger goes just like that.
And that allows your hand to relax
so you can push and you don't have to hold tight
with your hands so you can relax the forearm.
It's a very easy and it makes a big difference.
This is the same concept
with cross country skiing, classical form.
I've been using it for years
and it's a really the way to do it.
- Energy saving.
Yeah, It'll make your walking much more comfortable.
Okay. So how you walk with these is very important.
I'm just gonna demonstrate quick
and then I'll go through it step by step.
It looks like this.
Okay.
- It's like you're dragging them.
- Yeah. You do wanna drag them, just let 'em hang there.
You don't wanna lift them up.
So when my left foot goes forward
the right pole comes forward
and it doesn't come past your foot.
You're not reaching out in front of you, it's staying back.
And that allows you to push when you're going forward.
So you're propelling with this arm as you go forward.
And that's how your arm and upper body becomes involved.
Okay. So it's here, not in front of you
but at the midsection.
And then we take a step right leg
left pole comes forward and we push here.
And I actually a little bit further, this takes a little bit
of practice and it's harder for me to do in slow motion.
But that is the idea.
It's just like using crutches as a therapist.
We know the right hand goes with the opposite leg.
And if you think about it,
it can get kind of hard to do.
If you allow your body
it's the same motion that you walk with.
Right. And opposite leg go together and then a little push.
Little push, a little push.
And that allows when your stick
does not come too far forward, that forces good posture.
- So only grip when you push right?
- You don't even grip.
Oh that's the beauty of coming in from up underneath.
Well I'll keep my hands wide open.
That's a good point Bob.
Hands are wide open and I still push.
No problem.
I just, I keep my hands around just to keep control of 'em.
But I'm not gripping tight at all.
It's just a loose grip.
So good question.
Let's go to the next one.
So when you're starting out you should walk on flat ground.
Actually concrete works really nice cause it's smooth.
And it's just easy to get a feel
for doing it once you get on.
Like the road I live on is not smooth
it's blacktop and it's kind of rough.
And when you drag your pole, it bounces around and
you may want to lift it up a little bit
so that you get, you can tolerate that.
- So smooth asphalt or concrete.
- Yeah. That works good for starting.
Once you go on grass or off-road
you'll learn how to deal with the sticks.
But again, you're still doing that little push
and not going too far forward
with each stick as you move forward.
Again, that all works out
when you do it and you start with it.
The next thing is when you start going
uphills or downhills,
I'm not gonna get into detail this with this,
but when you go uphill depending how steep the hill is,
you're going to want to shorten the stick
when you go uphill.
And obviously you shorten 'em both the same.
And that's where the numbers are really handy.
Speeds it up.
Okay. So when you go uphill
the steps will demonstrate a hill and these
this one's shorter for going uphill
and this one's longer for going down a hill.
So if you're going uphill
and I kept the sticks long, they simply get too high.
And you don't have the leverage or the support
or the strength with your arms biomechanically.
When it shortened, you can see it stays low.
So that my forearm is still lower and I can...
- Still level.
- Yep. Still level.
Thank you Bob.
And it gives you lot more
much more strength and power to get up the hill.
And that's what the sticks are for to help you out.
When you're going down, if you kept the sticks short
then you're reaching over your posture.
- Poor posture.
- Yeah. Poor posture.
Your balance is not very good.
Your back is strained.
So you have to have the stick longer so you reach down.
And actually I would raise this up a little bit more
if I was going down a hill this steep.
And what really you're gonna find out
especially going downhill, you have that support
it's gonna really, if you have sore knees
you're gonna feel it without the stick.
But with the stick the ne, the pressure on the knees
and the joints really improves and that's a big benefit
for sticks going up and downhills.
So very good.
I think we've kind of everything, Bob
the stairs are here and well that's our hill today.
So you wanna get up and down hills, walk faster
burn more energy, have more fun,
- Do it all.
- See what you can do with these sticks.
(upbeat music begins)