Oxygen uptake, heart rate, perceived exertion during walking and Nordic walking on a moving treadmill

The study included 10 healthy adult subjects (four men, six women). All the subjects were regularly engaged in physical exercise. All subjects were familiarised with the experimental procedures and it was ensured that attaching the device to the body had no effect on the subjects' physiological responses during Nordic Walking (NW) and horizontal walking (LW).
It was found that NW induced higher V- O2, HR and iEMG of the upper limbs at all walking speeds compared to LW. V- E during NW was significantly higher than during LW at all speeds. Lower limb iEMG readings were significantly lower during NW than during LW. These data indicate that the use of poles in NW attenuates lower limb muscle activity during the trot and push-off phases and decreases lower limb energy expenditure and increases upper body and respiratory energy expenditure at specific gait speeds.