This week's article examines the health related benefits of walking.  Earlier this week, a patient asked me, "How much stronger will I get if I just walk?"  The reply to her question was surprising to her, and may be surprising to you, because evidence and studies have shown that people will not build muscle strength by simply walking.  I need to clarify that walking as an exercise is an excellent activity for cardiovascular health and, in general, is relatively low impact and helps to improve general flexibility.  Walking is also generally recommended following a person's illness or surgery, as their general capacity for mobility, lifting, and performance of daily activities is limited.  Walking improves blood flow, encourages soft tissue healing, and improves oxygenation in the blood stream.

However, to build physical strength, a resistance component to your exercise, including walking, needs to be implemented.  This may be walking up-hill, or by changing your walking pattern slightly by exaggerating stride lengths or even walking on your toes or heels.  Walking with ankle weights may help to improve strength, but it also increases the pounding each leg endures with each step and therefore those benefits may be negligible.  Many times I've had patients in PT that can walk all day long and at a brisk pace, but become fatigued and can feel muscle soreness in their thighs with repeated attempts at going up and down stairs.  Certainly this fatigue could be caused from other issues, but the point is, if you are walking just for the benefits of strengthening, then other exercise activity needs to be incorporated into the regimen.  The physical therapists at APT can assist you in developing an exercise program for strengthening that can be worked easily into your existing walking program.

Yours in health,

Matt