{"id":7282,"date":"2018-12-15T21:16:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T01:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/?p=7282"},"modified":"2019-11-22T20:51:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T00:51:18","slug":"ot-and-the-therapeutic-use-of-walking-poles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/ot-and-the-therapeutic-use-of-walking-poles\/","title":{"rendered":"OT and the Therapeutic Use of Walking Poles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The physical and emotional health benefits of a walking program are astounding!  For patients recovering from an illness or injury, adding walking poles can provide stability, improve gait and posture, and strengthen the upper body.  I was first introduced to walking poles while teaching the evidence-based falls prevention program, Stepping On, to community dwelling older adults.  One segment used walking poles and I have been a fan ever since.  My interest was renewed recently when I received a set of ACTIVATOR &#x2122; poles from Urban Poling.  The ACTIVATOR &#x2122; poles were designed by a fellow OT practicing in Canada specifically for rehab and long term conditions.  The design features a button locking system to adjust the height of the poles, a patented ergonomic grip, a Bell Shape tip to improve stability and is strapless to reduce the risk of injury.  Check out their website at <a href=\"https:\/\/urbanpoling.com\/\">https:\/\/urbanpoling.com\/<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Read on for a brief overview of the conditions that might be appropriate for the therapeutic use of walking poles, ways patients can benefit and some tips for use.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>Cheryl Hall, OT<br \/>\nAuthor and Illustrator, Occupational Therapy Toolkit<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conditions:<\/strong> Walking is a low cost, low barrier option for any patient that needs to improve functional mobility, but the added benefits of walking poles can be a boon for patients with the following conditions including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Arthritis<\/li>\n<li>Parkinson\u2019s<\/li>\n<li>Rehab after hip, knee, ankle or foot surgery<\/li>\n<li>MS<\/li>\n<li>TBI<\/li>\n<li>Cardiac rehab<\/li>\n<li>Stroke<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Benefits:<\/strong> In addition to all the gains a walking program can offer a patient, the use of walking poles adds some specific benefits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Relieves stress on low extremities<\/li>\n<li>Improves stability and balance<\/li>\n<li>Maintains better posture compared to a cane or walker<\/li>\n<li>Actively uses arms and upper body<\/li>\n<li>Promotes a more natural gait <\/li>\n<li>Helps to navigate steps, curbs and slopes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tips for Use:<\/strong> Patients should be trained in the proper use of walking poles to gain the greatest benefit.  Instruction should include these key points.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Poles \u2013 When adjusted properly, the elbow should be at a 90\u00b0 angle when the tip is resting on the ground.<\/li>\n<li>Straps \u2013 If the poles have straps the hand usually goes up through the loop. Straps distribute some of the load to the wrists and the hand grip is loose. <\/li>\n<li>Tips \u2013 Depending on terrain, a variety of tips may be available. For concrete or asphalt, a hard rubber tip is best.  Basket tips are for softer surfaces like sand or snow.  <\/li>\n<li>Gait \u2013 Opposite arm, opposite leg is the pattern used with walking poles.  There are different techniques depending on whether the poles use straps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do you have a success story using walking poles with one of your patients?  Let me know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The physical and emotional health benefits of a walking program are astounding! For patients recovering from an illness or injury, adding walking poles can provide stability, improve gait and posture, and strengthen the upper body. I was first introduced to walking poles while teaching the evidence-based falls prevention program, Stepping&#8230;<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/ot-and-the-therapeutic-use-of-walking-poles\/\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#DC0201\">Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-functional-mobility"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/WalkingPoles.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7282"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7288,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282\/revisions\/7288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}