Walking and balance

Health difficulties mean I continually walk into things, trip over things, and generally have trouble balancing. This means that walking is tiring - the effort required to balance and not tip over requires a lot of vigilance and energy. In the old days I used two canes to help. But these were uncomfortable, hurt the wrists, were bulky, and generally were a real pain. However I have found a solution which works very well for me, and hopefully will work for you too if you have similar problems. The solution I found is Trekking Poles.

After trying various poles I knew that I wanted lightweight, strong un-sprung poles. Un-sprung means there is no internal mechanism to dampen shock. Although this may work for some folks, for me the dampening mechanisms I tried served to exacerbate the balance issue, not help it.

So after trying several type of poles, I settled on Komperdell Southern Cross trekking poles as being best suited for my needs and budget. The handle on these is molded and angled for comfort and the straps are very comfortable. I did not go for soft handles since these for me at least, get pretty slippery when wet. Also the slightly canted grips means that the wrist is not held at an uncomfortable angle when walking, as I found to be the case with vertical grips. All of this added up to for me at least, comfort. The straps are particularly important since my hands shake. They allow me to put my full weight on the poles without having to grip with any pressure at all. A very loose hold on the grips to guide the poles as I walk along, using the straps to take the weight works best for me - although YMMV.

These poles are very light and very strong. They can take my full weight without bending or flexing, yet weigh in at a mere 200g. They are small enough to easily fit in my day pack.

To hold the poles properly, come up into the straps from the bottom so that your body weight is on the palm, not your wrists. When walking on the flat, the poles should swing out from you in a natural rhythm held entirely by the straps and guided by a very light grip on the handles. Tighten the straps so that they are snug, but not too tight. Just comfortable.

My trekking poles telescope to provide three sections, with scales in cm marked on the two telescoping sections. In theory they should be shortened for up-hill, and lengthened for down hill. I do not bother with this except for very steep grades. For normal walking I set the bottom and middle telescoping sections to the same length. And set this length such that my forearm is parallel to the ground with poles standing vertically. This works well for me, although YMMV. Keep the two telescoping lengths the same though, as this gives the poles their maximum strength.

There are two types of locking mechanisms available in trecking poles: The first, and the one I chose works by rotating the telescoping shaft (black in the pic below) with one hand while holding the grip (red in the pic) still with the other hand. Rotate one way to open, back to close. The other type is a lever-lock mechanism - flick it closed to lock the height, flick it open to change height. I prefer the first - the lever-lock is too fiddly for my shaking hands. I also find that the first seems to consistently give a solid lock which stays put no matter how much weight you put on the poles, but again, YMMV.

In the rain or snow, or when the ground is muddy my poles have a snap on bit that prevents the tip from sinking too deeply into the mud. It works well, and is tight enough that it stays on regardless of the conditions. There are small inexpensive rubber tips available too if you do a lot of walking on pavement.

Okay, so how are they when walking?

Well, for me they have changed everything. Before I got them I could seldom go for a walk. And if I did, it was sloooow and tiring as I struggled to keep my balance. Hills were very difficult. Falling was not fun.

But now I can stride along beside my wife and friends, seldom falling behind. With the trekking poles I no longer fall. And I do not get nearly as fatigued since I am not spending my time and energy trying to maintain my balance. For the first time in years my wife and I can go for long walks together through the country side. Wonderful!

So if illness means balance is problematic for you, I really do recommend you try trekking poles