Research 

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The review article by Tschentscher et al.[24] gave a high level overview of Nordic walking benefits. It gave brief insight on the analysis taken, but did not provide enough details on materials and methods.[24] This was important for the project, thus it was required to manually analyse the full research papers relevant. Almost all the research determined that Nordic walking is beneficial in some capacity.

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Many papers were examined to get a better grasp of what was required in the current research environment and how our project could be used to fill gaps or enrich research in meaningful ways. The research helped to justify which direction to take for the development of the nordic walking stick. The intention is to survey the research and get a better understanding of the tools, materials, methods and conclusions in regards to nordic walking. 

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Overall there are 3 categories of research and we have coined terms to make references to their classes in a more succinct manner. These are not official or generally accepted terms, rather they are our own terms for the purposes of this project:

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Prescriptive Research

 This was the majority of the papers, and they all followed a similar prescription style format with the rough steps:

1. Take participants baseline measurements

2. Prescribe Nordic Walking

3. Participants are trained regularly with a Nordic Walking expert

4. Take participant measurements periodically

This class of research, all examined cardiovascular parameters such as heart rate and VO2 max (maximum rate of oxygen consumption). Some of the research examined other factors and utilized sensors in their methods:

• Some papers utilized force platform or device of some sort that tracked pressure either through the pole or foot of participants. [ 15 ] [ 23 ] [ 21 ] [ 1] 

• Other research utilized positional data using accelerometers for either the poles or the participants bodies themselves to track positional data.[23] [25] [26] [22] [21] 

These were the general trends for this category of research. There were variances on what was measured in the experiment as each paper had a different focus. The importance is to understand what the overall trend is. Additionally, it is interesting to note that none of the research papers in this category tracked participants via sensor for the entirety of their time while Nordic walking. Instead only periodic measurements were made. This is likely due to the cost of the sensors used and the cost involved with real time monitoring of all participants for a long duration.

 

Biomechanical Research

Biomechanical research describes research that was done in order to track body mechanics related to Nordic walking, typically using Electromyography (EMG) analysis to track muscle activation.

The biomechanical research was largely all conducted with EMG devices that measure muscle activity electronically. These papers helped to give insight on the biomechanics of Nordic Walking and how to apply sensors to better track certain aspects. The papers were particularly interested in form and some stating that form had quite a marked effect on the results of Nordic walking. These papers fully tracked the participants and measured them for the entirety of the experiment [2 ] [ 7]  [ 3 ] [ 16 ] [ 25 ][26] [22] [21]

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Hardware Research

The hardware based research was quite limited. This survey was done to examine what solutions were already implemented in regards to making a "Smart" Nordic walking pole. Only two papers were found that resembled what we seek for our project. These will help guide us such that we can learn from them and expand upon them. [14][17]

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Our First Iteration of the Solution

After examining the current research trends we have identified some gaps. Firstly, participants are almost never measured long-term and real-time for the entirety of their Nordic walking exercise. We want to provide a Nordic walking pole with sensor suites so that users can be measured for the entire time they are Nordic walking for any given experiment, instead of just being measured periodically. The intention is to make the pole robust enough for participants to use, and cost effective so that multiple participants can use one for the duration of any research. In this first iteration the sensors that are planned for implementation as per our research findings are, a heart rate monitor, and pressure sensors on the poles. 

 

Our Unique Take, on the Solution

The research has shown that form can be a determining factor on efficacy of Nordic walking. We seek to bridge the gap between the aforementioned prescriptive based research and the biomechanical. Such that form can be tracked with the other common parameters described in much of the prescriptive research. It is important to note that the sensor suite should be able to assist in both research individually, but also provide an intersection point of measurement. This allows for a more diverse set of use cases of the device while only marginally increasing complexity.

Since a Nordic walking pole with sensors has already been done[14][17], our own approach to solving the problem in a unique way is to focus on implementing form tracking and maintenance via sensors. The Nordic walking pole will have additional implements that will help the user maintain form parameters. E.g If the participant has left knee injury, the pole can guide the user to put 5% body weight to the pole on the side of the injured left knee, and 15% body weight on the other. The implements that will help the user maintain form can be devices such as haptic feedback on the handle or led that flashes a certain color. It will also help researchers collect a richer data set.

 

Additional benefits

Since the Nordic walking poles will be an Internet of Things (IoT) device, researchers can interact with it real time remotely, and can read the stream of data coming from the pole when in use. Additionally, a researcher can opt to upload different form parameters to the participant and track them real time. E.g if the participant is seeing minimal upper body changes, the researcher can upload form parameters remotely to the pole, guiding the user to put 10% more body weight on the pole.

 

Even more benefits..

Although not our intention after the pivot, this particular solution can segue quite easily into a commercial product, and data could potentially be streamed to a medical professional/ physiotherapist which can then alter form parameters to ensure the user are conducting Nordic walking with optimal form. In essences it can be a smart walking pole that helps track your form, and improve it to get the most out of nordic walking. This is not the goal of our project, but we can structure things in such a way, in terms of the solution such that the effort to cross this bridge is minimized. This is especially enhanced if research is done on the device. This is beyond the scope of what we seek to achieve, but it is interesting to consider as we progress.

 

We hope that the smart Nordic Walking pole will provide finer granularity of data collection for researchers and improve upon the current Nordic walking research meta. 

 

References

[1] Lara Allet, Beatrice Leemann, Emmanuel Guyen, Laura Murphy, Dominique Monnin, Francois R. Herrmann, and Armin Schnider. 2009. Effect of Different Walking Aids on Walking Capacity of Patients With Poststroke Hemiparesis. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. 90, 8 (2009), 1408–1413.

 

[2] Gennaro Boccia, Chiara Zoppirolli, Lorenzo Bortolan, Barbara Pellegrini,

Leonardo Alexandre Peyre-Tartaruga, and Valeria Feijo Martins. 2022. Mar-

gins of stability and trunk coordination during Nordic walking. Journal of

biomechanics. 134 (2022).

 

[3] G. Boccia, C. Zoppirolli, L. Bortolan, F. Schena, and B. Pellegrini. 2018. Shared and task-specific muscle synergies of Nordic walking and conventional walking. Scandinavian journal of medicine science in sports. 28, 3 (2018), 905–918.

[4] Marie-Kathrin Breyer, Robab Breyer-Kohansal, Georg-Christian Funk, Nicole Dornhofer, Martijn A. Spruit, Emiel F. M. Wouters, Otto C. Burghuber, and Sylvia Hartl. 2010. Nordic Walking improves daily physical activities in COPD: a randomised controlled trial. Respiratory research. 11 (2010).

 

[5] TS Church, CP Earnest, and GM Morss. 2002. Field testing of physiological responses associated with Nordic Walking. RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXER-CISE AND SPORT 73, 3 (SEP 2002), 296–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2002.10609023

 

[6] H. Figard-Fabre, N. Fabre, A. Leonardi, and F. Schena. 2011. Efficacy of NordicWalking in Obesity Management. International journal of sports medicine. 32, 6(2011), 407–414.

 

[7] Natalia Andrea Gomenuka, Henrique Bianchi Oliveira, Edson Soares da Silva, Elren Passos-Monteiro, Rodrigo Gomes da Rosa, Alberito Rodrigo Carvalho, Rochelle Rocha Costa, Martin Cruz Rodriguez Paz, Barbara Pellegrini, and Leonardo Alexandre Peyre-Tartaruga. 2020. Nordic walking training in elderly, a randomized clinical trial. Part II: Biomechanical and metabolic adaptations. Sports medicine - open. 6, 1 (2020).

 

[8] Bibi Gram, Robin Christensen, Christian Christiansen, and Jeppe Gram. 2010. Ef-fects of Nordic Walking and Exercise in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Clinical journal of sport medicine. 20, 5 (2010), 355–361.

 

[9] Ernst A. Hansen and Gerald Smith. 2009. ENERGY EXPENDITURE AND COM-FORT DURING NORDIC WALKING WITH DIFFERENT POLE LENGTHS. Jour-nal of strength and conditioning research. 23, 4 (2009), 1187–1194.

 

[10] Jan Hartvigsen, Lars Morso, Tom Bendix, and Claus Manniche. 2010. Supervisedand non-supervised Nordic walking in the treatment of chronic low back pain: a single blind randomized clinical trial. BMC musculoskeletal disorders. 11 (2010).

 

[11] Piotr Kocur, Ewa Deskur-Smielecka, Malgorzata Wilk, and Piotr Dylewicz. 2009.Effects of Nordic Walking training on exercise capacity and fitness in men participating in early, short-term inpatient cardiac rehabilitation after an acute coronary syndrome - a controlled trial. Clinical rehabilitation. 23, 11 (2009), 995–1004.

 

[12] Kaisa Mannerkorpi, Lena Nordeman, Asa Cider, and Gunilla Jonsson. 2010. Does moderate-to-high intensity Nordic walking improve functional capacity and pain in fibromyalgia? A prospective randomized controlled trial. Arthritis research therapy. 12, 5 (2010).

 

[13] Katarzyna Marciniak, Janusz Maciaszek, Magdalena Cyma-Wejchenig, Robert Szeklicki, Zuzanna Mackowiak, Dorota Sadowska, and Rafal Stemplewski. 2020. The Effect of Nordic Walking Training with Poles with an Integrated Resis-tance Shock Absorber on the Functional Fitness of Women over the Age of 60. International journal of environmental research and public health. 17, 7 (2020).

 

[14] Francesco Mocera, Giuseppe Aquilino, and Aurelio Somà. 2018. Nordic Walking Performance Analysis with an Integrated Monitoring System. Sensors 18, 5 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051505

 

[15] Terttu Parkatti, Jarmo Perttunen, and Phyllis Wacker. 2012. Improvements

in Functional Capacity From Nordic Walking: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Among Older Adults. Journal of aging and physical activity. 20, 1 (2012), 93–105.

 

[16] Barbara Pellegrini, Gennaro Boccia, Chiara Zoppirolli, Raffaela Rosa, Federico Stella, Lorenzo Bortolan, Alberto Rainoldi, and Federico Schena. 2018. Muscular and metabolic responses to different Nordic walking techniques, when style matters. PloS one. 13, 4 (2018).

 

[17] Paola Pierleoni, Sara Raggiunto, Simone Marzorati, Lorenzo Palma, Alessandro Cucchiarelli, and Alberto Belli. 2022. Activity Monitoring Through Wireless Sensor Networks Embedded Into Smart Sport Equipments: The Nordic Walking Training Utility. IEEE Sensors Journal 22, 3 (2022), 2744–2757. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2021.3136760

 

[18] Manon Roy, Veronique Grattard, Christophe Dinet, V Soares, Antonio, Pierre Decavel, and Yoshimasa J. Sagawa. 2020. Nordic walking influence on biome-chanical parameters: a systematic review. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE 56, 5 (2020), 607–615.

 

[19] Atle H. Saeterbakken, Solveig Nordengen, Vidar Andersen, and Marius S. Fimland. 2017. Nordic walking and specific strength training for neck- and shoulder pain in office workers: a pilot-study. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE 53, 6 (2017), 928–935.

 

[20] Thorsten Schiffer, Axel Knicker, Uwe Hoffman, Brigitte Harwig, Wildor Holl-mann, and Heiko K. Strueder. 2006. Physiological responses to nordic walking,walking and jogging. European journal of applied physiology. 98, 1 (2006), 56–61.

 

[21] Thorsten Schiffer, Axel Knicker, Melissa Montanarella, and Heiko K. Strueder. 2011. Mechanical and physiological effects of varying pole weights during Nordic walking compared to walking. European journal of applied physiology. 111, 6(2011), 1121–1126.

 

[22] Je-myung Shim, Hae-yeon Kwon, Ha-roo Kim, Bo-in Kim, and Ju-hyeon Jung. 2013. Comparison of the Effects of Walking with and without Nordic Pole on Upper Extremity and Lower Extremity Muscle Activation. Journal of physical therapy science. 25, 12 (2013), 1553–1556.

 

[23] Nobuo Takeshima, Mohammod M. Islam, Michael E. Rogers, Nicole L. Rogers, Naoko Sengoku, Daisuke Koizumi, Yukiko Kitabayashi, Aiko Imai, and Aiko Naruse. 2013. Effects of Nordic Walking compared to Conventional Walking and Band-Based Resistance Exercise on Fitness in Older Adults. Journal of sports science medicine. 12, 3 (2013), 422–430.

 

[24] Marcus Tschentscher, David Niederseer, and Josef Niebauer. 2013. Health Benefits of Nordic Walking A Systematic Review. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 44, 1 (JAN 2013), 76–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.09.043

 

[25] Luca Zoffoli, Massimiliano Ditroilo, Ario Federici, and Francesco Lucertini. 2017. Patterns of trunk muscle activation during walking and pole walking using statistical non-parametric mapping. Journal of electromyography and kinesiology. 37 (2017), 52–60. 

 

[26] Luca Zoffoli, Francesco Lucertini, Ario Federici, and Massimiliano Ditroilo. 2016. Trunk muscles activation during pole walking vs. walking performed at different speeds and grades. Gait posture 46 (2016), 57–62.