Nordic walking’s (NW) degree of effectiveness regarding health-related parameters in people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a subject of debate. While NW seems to improve functionality, a clear non-motor benefit has not been demonstrated. The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to compare the effects of 9-week NW and free walking (FW) training programs on quality of life, cognitive function, and depressive symptoms in individuals with PD. Thirty-three people with PD, (Hoehn and Yahr 1–4) were randomized into two groups: NW (n = 16) and FW (n = 17). We analyzed quality of life, cognitive function, depressive symptoms, and motor symptoms. Significant improvements were found in the overall, physical, psychological, social participation, and intimacy domains of quality of life, as well as in cognitive function and depressive symptoms for both groups. Only the NW group showed improvement in the autonomy domain. Individuals with PD had a similar enhancement of non-motor symptoms after walking training, with or without poles. However, the NW group showed a more significant improvement in the autonomy domain, strengthening the applied and clinical potential of NW in people with PD. Future studies are needed to determine the efficacy of walking training without poles in subjects with PD.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of walking speed on the pendular mechanism, cost of transport, mechanical efficiency and mechanical work in adults with lower-limb amputation, compared to a control group. Methods: Observational, cross sectional study. Ten subjects from an amputee rehabilitation clinic, with the same prosthetic knee and foot and ten healthy subjects were selected to form the experimental and the control group, respectively. Tridimensional kinematics data and oxygen uptake were collected simultaneously at five speeds: the self-selected walking speed (SSWS), two speeds above and below. Results: In the experimental group, the cost of transport was higher than in controls. Contrary to controls, in experimental group the minimum cost of transport and the maximum recovery did not coincide to the SSWS, but were reached at the maximum speed of the protocol. The mechanical efficiency in experimental group was lower, while the external mechanical work and pendular transduction were higher than in controls. Conclusions: The clinical relevance of these results is the concept, also supported by other studies, that interventions headed to increase the SSWS in the experimental group also increase and optimise the energetic economy and the pendulum efficiency of their locomotion.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of allometric scaling on the relationship between mechanical work and long-distance running performance in recreational runners. Fourteen recreational long-distance runners (male, mean ± SD - age: 29 ± 7 years; body mass: 70.0 ± 10.2 kg; body height: 1.71 ± 0.07 m; maximal oxygen uptake: VO_2max 52.0 ± 4.9 ml.kg^-1.min^-1) performed two tests: a continuous incremental test to volitional exhaustion in order to determine VO_2max, and a 6-minute running submaximal test at 3.1 m.s^-1, during which segments in the sagittal plane were recorded using a digital camera and the internal (W_int), external (W_ext) and total (W_tot) mechanic work, in J.kg^-1.m^-1, was subsequently calculated. The results indicated a significant correlation between mechanical work and performance, however, the strongest correlations were observed when allometric exponents were used (respectively for Wint, Wext and Wtot; non allometric vs. allometric scaling defined by literature (0.75) or determined mathematically (0.49): r = 0.38 vs. r = 0.44 and r = 0.50; r = 0.80 vs. r = 0.83 and r = 0.82; r = 0.70 vs. r = 0.77 and r = 0.78). These results indicate that mechanical work could be used as a predictor of recreational long-distance performance and an allometric model may improve this prediction.