One of my great joys in life is spending quality time outdoors. Hiking is one of the many outdoor activities I enjoy doing. And my hiking poles make it that much easier—for five good reasons.
1) Balance
Hiking involves walking over uneven terrain, navigating obstacles, and dealing with uneven lighting—all things which challenge your balance system. This was true when I was 25, but I appreciate it even more now that I’m 55. The hiking poles provide you with two extra “feet” on the ground, which gives your brain more information to help with your balance.
2) Going Up
Depending on the terrain, you may encounter steep inclines, including large rocks or natural steps you need to climb up. By placing my poles behind me, I can use them to propel myself forward and upward if I need a little extra help.
3) My Knees
If you’ve done any serious amount of hiking, you know that going downhill is often harder than going uphill—for one main reason: your knees. If you, for example, have a bum left knee and have to walk down a set of stairs, you’ll find you naturally go down the steps leading with the left leg. That’s because as you go down the steps, you have to stand with all of your weight on one leg (and stabilize that knee) momentarily as you lower your opposite leg to place your foot on the lower step. If your left knee is hurting, you don’t want to put the stress on that side. Try it. It’ll make more sense if you actually go down a set of stairs and see what I mean.
There’s a lot of stress on your knees going downhill. By placing the poles in front of you, especially if you’re stepping down, you can allow the poles to take some of your weight, and therefore the stress off your knees.
4) My Shoulders
Hiking tires you out. And when you get tired, you often tend to droop a bit forward. The hiking poles keep your arms bent at right angles and help to support your shoulders to stay wide across the top of your rib cage—where they belong—even if you’re getting tired. My shoulders always feel great at the end of a long hike if I’ve been using the poles the whole time.
5) My Hands
When you walk or hike without poles, where are your arms and hands? Typically down by your side, swinging as you walk. After a while with my arms down like this, my hands will begin to swell. With the poles, my arms are bent at right angles, and I have absolutely no swelling in my hands and fingers. I can try to remember to keep my arms bent when hiking without my poles, but I frequently forget. Plus, it gets tiring after a while. The poles solve that problem.
Besides using the hiking poles, I also always hike with a hip pack, instead of a backpack. I wrote about that some time ago. The poles and my pack are the two things I never leave home without.
Do you have activities that you love to do and have equipment that makes those activities that much easier and more enjoyable? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.
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P.S. If you enjoy the content of this blog, you’ll love my recently published book, What Your Body Wants You to Know: Exploring Body Awareness, Posture, and Movement with the Alexander Technique.
