REAL Nordic Walking Poles are equipped with removable rubber tips or asphalt paws. These rubber tips act as shock absorbers and silencers - eliminating the noise that the poles metal tips would normally make while walking on pavement and other hard surfaces. If the roads are snow covered remove the rubber tips and take advantage of the metal tip - much like a ski pole.
Actually REAL Nordic Walking Poles are similar to quality one-piece ski poles. Thousands of stores and online retailers are selling and promoting cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece collapsible poles equipped with twist locks or flip locks - they are poor imitations from China of the real thing. Cheap/flimsy collapsible poles rattle, vibrate, gradually collapse or fail altogether. Quality one-piece poles not only have the rubber tips included, but they have special fingerless glove straps - patented by the Salomon Ski Company. The cheap/flimsy collapsible poles from China either have no straps, old fashion loop straps or velcro slings that are not the real deal.
Quality one-piece poles need to be selected for each individual's specific height. Perfect Length Poles radically improve balance and stability.Perfect length poles help us to automatically walk with a super straight back - better walking posture is biomechanically a good thing. This improved walking posture when combined with the unique 4-Wheel-Drive type action of walking with poles radically reduces the stress to the shins, knees,hips and back. Nordic Walking is low impact and yet provides a highly effective workout - burning more calories and working more muscle groups than regular walking.
Nordic Walking’s winning combination of improved posture, a unique 4-Wheel-Drive type action and shock absorbing benefits - helping many individuals to walk comfortably again. Nordic Walking Poles are helping individuals with balance issues, knee issues or new knees, hip issues or new hips, back issues (including those with rods in their back), weight issues, multiple sclerosis (MS), parkinson's (PD),diabetes, neuropathy, arthritis, bursitis, scoliosis, lumbar stenosis, fibromyalgia, post polio, osteoporosis, stroke recovery, cancer recovery and other limitations to walking. Nordic Walking poles are helping thousands of Americans get off the couch, successfully get outside, start walking safely and effectively launch much needed walking campaigns.
The only source for quality one-piece Nordic Walking Poles in North America is WWW.SKIWALKING.COM and the American Nordic Walking System. 16 different lengths of both SWIX of Norway and EXEL of Finland Nordic Walking Poles are available. These are the same quality poles used by world class athletes in downhill and cross country skiing. Cheap/flimsy collapsible poles would fall apart when used for downhill or cross country skiing. Cheap/flimsy collapsible poles are not recommended for daily use for walking either. Seniors and anyone with balance issues should also avoid cheap/flimsy collapsible poles from China. Don't believe the marketing hype behind collapsible poles.
One-piece walking poles that are sized correctly will always prove to be safer, lighter, stronger, much more durable and much more user-friendly.
