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Effects of Defensive Style Nordic Walking Intervention in Patients with Lumbar and Lower-Limb Osteoarthritis

Justin Z. Laferrier, Kevin Muldowney and Kathleen Muldowney

Regular exercise is effective for improving physical functions and pain relief in patients with lumbar and lowerlimb osteoarthritis. However, some of the patients have difficulty in performing land-based exercises due to disease status. This study focused on defensive style Nordic walking as a land-based exercise the patients can perform and aimed to investigate the effects of defensive style Nordic walking intervention on functional performance and pain in patients with lumbar and lower-limb osteoarthritis with low walking capacity. After 10 weeks of non-intervention, thirteen patients participated in the defensive style Nordic walking intervention for 10 weeks. The sixty-minute Nordic walking exercise was conducted once a week. Self-reported maximum walking distance without a break of the patients was less than 1 km and eight patients usually use a cane while walking. Functional performance measurement was conducted before non-intervention, after non-intervention (before intervention), and after intervention periods. Pain was measured using visual analog scale before and after each exercise session. Indices to estimate mobility, lower-limb muscle strength, and balance ability were improved by the intervention as compared with the non-intervention. Pain score decreased immediately after one session of defensive style Nordic walking and throughout the intervention period. These results suggest that the defensive style Nordic walking is an effective landbased exercise to improve mobility, lower-limb muscle strength, balance, and pain relief in patients with lumbar and lower-limb osteoarthritis with low walking capacity.