I have recently been looking into Nordic Walking and its place as a treatment option for patients. This was after a surgeon had specifically recommended it to a patient for her rehabilitation post knee surgery. I have been aware of Nordic Walking for a number of years but have never involved it into rehab programs and therefore thought it would be a good area to look into and see if there is any evidence supporting its beneficial claims.

Nordic Walking is a total body version of walking, which has evolved from cross country skiers doing off season training. If you picture cross country skiing with no snow you have a pretty good picture of what it looks like.

I first came across Nordic Walking four years ago when a colleague was promoting it to her patients as an exercise that had all the benefits of walking with added upper body engagement. My colleague was a German physiotherapist who had seen the benefits of it back in Europe where it was a popular form of exercise.