NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

The surprising benefits of using poles for hiking and walking

By Amanda Loudin
New York Times·
27 Jun, 2025 06:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Studies suggest poles can make hiking gentler on your joints and can boost the cardiovascular benefit of walking. Photo / Adam Pawlikiewicz, The New York Times

Studies suggest poles can make hiking gentler on your joints and can boost the cardiovascular benefit of walking. Photo / Adam Pawlikiewicz, The New York Times

Whether on a trail or a sidewalk, poles help you safely go farther, faster and engage your upper body. Here’s how to reap the benefits.

Ashley Hawke was originally a sceptic of trekking poles. But after twisting an ankle on a tree root while descending a hill during a 2015 backpacking trip, she tried a pair.

“I couldn’t believe how much easier hiking felt, especially while wearing a 40-pound (18kg) pack,” said Hawke, now 30. “I used to think they were just for older people. Now I tell everyone I know to use them.”

As a doctoral candidate in integrative physiology, Hawke did a meta-analysis, scouring 40 years of research into hiking poles. There weren’t many papers, but the ones she found showed that using them often improved balance, took weight off the legs, made hiking feel easier and led to fewer sore muscles.

Other small studies suggest poles can make hiking gentler on your joints and can boost the cardiovascular benefit of walking.

Keep up with the latest in lifestyle and entertainment

Get the latest lifestyle & entertainment headlines straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In other words, you don’t need to be a long-distance backpacker – or a senior – to benefit from using trekking poles.

Why use walking poles?

Put simply, poles can help you walk easier, faster and farther. One small study found that walking with poles increased the amount of oxygen and calories that subjects used by more than 20%.

This is one big reason Aaron Baggish, a cardiologist with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, often recommends them to patients of all ages, especially those with limited mobility.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Poles will allow you to get fitter, faster, because it’s a full body workout,” he said.

If you regularly head outdoors on to dirt trails, poles can also help pull yourself uphill and protect your joints going downhill. Sharon Caputo, 55, who lives in Syracuse, New York, has climbed all 46 of the high peaks in the Adirondack Mountains, and used poles during each climb.

Discover more

World

How brisk walking could transform cancer recovery outcomes

11 Jun 03:38 AM
Lifestyle

Fake my run is exactly what it sounds like 

04 Jun 12:00 AM
Lifestyle

How to manage your blood sugar with exercise

21 May 12:00 AM
Lifestyle

The worst time to exercise for a good night’s sleep

14 May 06:00 AM

They take pressure off her knees going downhill, she said, “and they also help spread the wealth from my legs to my arms, so I don’t get as tired”.

Caputo also finds the poles helpful for balance when walking through water, in deep mud or when moving from one rock to another.

Pick your pole

Consider whether you’ll use your poles for Nordic walking or hiking.

Nordic poles are better on flatter, smoother surfaces and involve a single piece with more elaborate straps attached at the grip, which keeps the poles close to your hands. This allows you to more easily push yourself forward.

For hikes on undulating dirt trails or up mountains, lightweight, collapsible trekking poles are better, because they’re easier to pack, said Maggie Peikon, manager of communications at the American Hiking Society.

Look for easy adjustability so that you can change lengths on the fly. Also decide which type of grip you like: foam, rubber or cork, which tends to be grippier, even when it’s wet.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Caputo varies the length of her poles on every hike. “On the way down, I like them a little longer to help with bigger drop-offs,” she said. “On the way up, if I need to use my hands to scramble, I fold them down.”

Also consider the pole’s tip – on dry, paved trails or sidewalks, a rubber tip is best. If you’re heading on to a dirt path, or if there’s snow or ice, a metal tip provides greater stability (though the metal can sometimes damage rocks).

You’ll want to learn how to adjust and use your wrist straps, too. Grip the handle and make sure the strap is resting snugly but comfortably around the back of your wrist. If not, play around with the adjustments until you find your sweet spot.

You can also bring your poles to a physical therapist to find the setup that works for your body, Baggish said.

Find your technique

The classic position for any pole – Nordic or trekking – is straight down, so that your arms are parallel with the ground and your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle. In this position, your arms can help to power your movement.

Don’t let the poles alter how you walk or hike. “The poles shouldn’t change your natural walking rhythm,” Peikon said. “It should feel intuitive to use them, not a hindrance to your natural cadence.”

Try to consciously engage your arms and shoulders. Focus on pushing down to propel yourself forward. Hiking downhill won’t be as much of a push motion, but rather a stabilising plant, Peikon said. Do your best to maintain an upright posture, never hunching over your poles.

“It may feel awkward to use them at first,” said Peikon, “which is why practising with them on flat, level terrain is best.”

You can also play around with using one pole or two. Peikon prefers one: “If I have a misstep, I like having a hand free to catch myself,” she said.

In the end, how you use them comes down to preference – don’t overthink it and don’t overspend, Hawke said. “Sometimes, the random hiking stick you find on the side of the trail works just fine, too.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Amanda Loudin

Photographs by: Adam Pawlikiewicz

©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Lifestyle

Royals

King Charles hosts state visit with burst blood vessel in eye

08 Jul 08:59 PM
Royals

Macron receives warm, pomp-filled welcome from King in UK

08 Jul 06:17 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Six subtle signs you’re heading for divorce and how to fix it

08 Jul 06:00 PM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

King Charles hosts state visit with burst blood vessel in eye

King Charles hosts state visit with burst blood vessel in eye

08 Jul 08:59 PM

Charles hosted President Macron with an eye condition 'unrelated to health issues'.

Macron receives warm, pomp-filled welcome from King in UK

Macron receives warm, pomp-filled welcome from King in UK

08 Jul 06:17 PM
Premium
Six subtle signs you’re heading for divorce and how to fix it

Six subtle signs you’re heading for divorce and how to fix it

08 Jul 06:00 PM
One of Jacinda Ardern's favourite cafes closes over 'economic conditions'

One of Jacinda Ardern's favourite cafes closes over 'economic conditions'

08 Jul 07:00 AM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search