Can walking be as effective a form of exercise as running? - Tony Paladin (Paladin Biokineticists)

Whenever we are going to relate things to one and other, it is always best to adopt the old adage of “comparing apples with apples”. Comparing apples with say bananas makes for good conversation; but it doesn’t actually address the cold, hard facts.

The debate about walking vs. running and the respective health benefits of each has swung like a pendulum for decades between Doctors, Surgeons, Biokineticists, Physiotherapists, Athletics coaches and Personal Trainers.

Before we can critically comment on whether walking can be as effective as running we would need to define what exactly: “form of exercise” means. If we loosely reference the World Health Organisation’s definition of “exercise”, we can break the components into functional / balance, flexibility, strength and cardiovascular.

If we use these components as indicators, we can critically assess whether walking is as “effective” as running.

From a functional / balance perspective, the slower the movement the greater the stimulus. Generally walking is a good choice for people who need to improve basic function, increase activities of daily living and enhance balance. The function / balance components can be respectively varied in difficulty by offering assistance or creating instability. Verdict = when it comes to training basic function and balance, walking wins.

Flexibility. Unfortunately on this front, neither walking nor running has much to offer in terms of increasing muscle and joint range of motion. If I had a loaded gun to my head and was asked to make a call, I would have to say that across the walking / running echelon, sprinting would probably elicit the greatest effect on flexibility due to the ballistic and elastic components of the activity. Verdict = Do Yoga or full range of motion exercises such as squats in conjunction to your walking and running program.

When we introduce strength into the walk / run debate, we end up with a chicken and egg situation. Does one need to be strong to walk and run or does walking and running make you strong? Lets make walking the chicken and running the egg. Walking is the most elementary form of movement; it is literally one step harder than sitting. From the perspective of rudimentary movement, it is logical that one should start with the basics prior to advancing the activity. The “basics” in this case, is walking and when advanced, is running. Strength however, nestles itself quite firmly in between the two activities: you need to be strong to run. Do we go with the chicken or the egg? Since neither walking nor running really develops strength, it is advisable to include other movements in your program, which do. Verdict = Walking should be progressed to incline walking which should be progressed to fast incline walking which should be progressed to running. Strength exercises should be included across the entire stratum.

Then we have the cardiovascular component. In short, the faster your heart beats, the more “cardiovascular” the modality of exercise is. One could argue that it is a no brainer that running elevates your heart rate more than walking does, but does it really? Running sloppily on a flat surface at a slow pace versus brisk walking with a backpack up a hill is like comparing apples with bananas. If we compare apples with apples; as a general rule running elicits more of a cardiovascular response on the body due to the speed of the activity. The body needs to work harder to run than to walk. If we are going to get walking to obtain the same level of work, we need to make it more difficult. This can be done with speed, resistance, hills and direction. Verdict = from a cardiovascular perspective, walking with purpose has the potential to topple lackadaisical running.

So… Shall I walk or shall I run? For the non-injured and mostly healthy community, running has the ability to elicit more of an exercise response than walking and should probably be the mode of choice. For individuals with joint problems or who are simply not fit enough to run, walking is a heck of a lot better than bum sitting in terms of exercise response. Even when walking is too easy and running is too hard, walk-running is also an alternative to get the heart rate up but still allow for bouts of rest. The bottom line is your ability: exercise is meant to be both challenging and enjoyable.

With regards to general health benefits, increased fitness, toning and weightloss; the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise per week; strength train each muscle group two to three days a week; do flexibility exercise two to three days per week; and finally, do functional exercise two or three days per week. Whether you choose to walk or run is your choice, just make sure your heart is beating while you are doing it!

Tony’s Primary areas of focus include: Orthopaedic rehabilitation through strengthening (mainly backs and knees). He works with regaining function in ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstructions and total knee replacement patients.

Tony also has an interest in sport specific testing and training (primarily rowing, cycling, running and triathlon).

Tony can be contacted on 011 807 9877 or tonypaladin@kinetics.co.za. 

In case of an emergency, he can be contacted on 082 921 6776.

Parkinsons and the effects of Exercise - Michael Irvine (Paladin Biokineticists)

Parkinsons is a degenerative disease where the brain cells that affect the control of movement slowly dies, resulting in disturbances in the messages being relayed from the brain to muscles. This inhibits or negatively affects movement. This mechanism can be explained physiologically by a chemical produced in the brain cells called dopamine, which is used by the nerve cells to help control movement. When an individual has Parkinson’s, these brain cells die making it hard to control the muscles involved in movement. Another factor involved in the neurological damage is the occurrence of protein misfolding and formation of distinct aggregates. This results in a putative pathological protein load on the nervous system. Symptoms of parkinson’s occurs when there is more than an 80% loss of dopaminergic cells.

Symptom

Classic symptoms of Parkinson’s include:

1.      Rigidity and trembling of head

2.      Forward tilt of trunk

3.      Reduced arm swinging

4.      Rigidity and trembling of extremities

5.      Shuffling gait with short steps

Parkinsons is an idiopathic condition, therefore it is not clearly known what causes the cells to waste away. Parkinsons is a highly researched disease to help us possibly prevent and treat it better.

Speculated causes:

• ·         genetics
• ·         mitochondrial dysfunction and antioxidants
• ·         occupational exposures (pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals)
• ·         smoking, coffee, and alcohol.

Exercise and Parkinsons:

Research over the last couple of years has uncovered a large amount of evidence that exercise is an effective form of treatment for Parkinson’s disease and could delay the steady decline of the disease. Studies using animals found that exercise has protective benefits towards the onset of Parkinsons symptoms. This appears to be due to the release of neurotrophic factors, greater cerebral oxygenation which both promote new cell growth and survival.

Exercise helps stimulate dopamine synthesis in the remaining dopaminergic cells, thus reducing symptoms. Research suggests exercise enhances neuroplasticity in Parkinson’s patients via 5 key principles:

1.      Intense exercise maximizes synaptic plasticity

2.      Complex exercise promote greater structural adaptation

3.      Rewarding activities increase dopamine levels which promotes learning/relearning

4.      “Use it or Lose It” phenomenon (dopaminergic neurones are highly responsive to exercise and inactivity)

5.      Exercise if done early slows down the progression of the disease.

Taking into account these 5 key principles of exercise and Parkinson’s disease, exercise has shown to provide many benefits to Parkinson’s patients such as:

·         Increased health related quality of life

·         Decrease in disease severity

·         Increased muscle strength

·         Increased aerobic capacity

·         Increased physical functioning

·         Increased balance

·         Improvement in walking speed/ability

Michael completed his BSc Sports Science undergraduate degree at The University of Stellenbosch and his BHSc honours degree in Biokinetics at The University of the Stellenbosch.

Michael has a passion for waterpolo and many other sports such as rugby, soccer, tennis and golf.

Michael has an interest in orthopaedic rehabilitation, in particular the shoulder. As well as a keen interest in chronic disease management.

Michael can be contacted on 072 929 1309 or mikeirvine@kinetics.co.za

Do's and don'ts of running, the common misconceptions - Natasha Eekhout (Paladin Biokineticists)

How hard can running really be? You’ve stretched out, trained your core and finally ready to put your fancy kit on with your ultimate running shoes and hit the road, voila! However has all your training leading up to your run really made a huge difference on your performance?

Stretching and flexibility

We’ve all seen that one runner stretching out those tight biltong strips we call hamstrings but how much does that really help. Initially stretching was seen as a performance enhancer however, recent research shows that it may just hinder it. This all has to do with neuromuscular factors nevertheless, this also depends on the types of stretches performed, static or dynamic. (Have a read through our blog discussing these two). This goes hand in hand with flexibility. The more flexible you are the lower your running economy, due to negative impacts on the stretch shortening cycle.

Distance running strengthens your legs

Actually this isn’t the case. In general, running will either decrease your absolute strength or just keep it, there have been no noted increases as of yet.

Lactate causes fatigue

Lactic acid is produced when the muscles break down glucose during strenuous muscular activity. It is commonly seen as a waste product. Although lactate may correspond with fatigue, it is not the cause and is actually present to delay the onset of fatigue and provide your body with a source of energy.

How important is core strength for running?

It’s good to have a strong core to help with general stability and decrease back pain, however its effects on running performance haven’t really hit the research books, as many runners haven’t really noticed major differences.

You shouldn’t be crashing on the floor after a race?

Nope this one ain’t correct either. So instead of standing around with your hands on your head, like you’ve been advised to, to try ‘recuperate and gather your energy,’ listen to your tired body and give into those jelly legs. Your body needs a break and is battling to pump blood against gravity.

With all of the above stated, it’s up to you and how your body feels. If you’re keen on sticking to your routine or happy to change it up, that’s completely up to you. The main focus is to improve your economy and overall training performance for a great healthy running stride.