Shin Okazaki‡§, Keisuke Miyashita|, Himeno Shimizu§, Kazumasa Nakagawa‡Academic editor: Milena Kuleva © Shin Okazaki, Keisuke Miyashita, Himeno Shimizu, Kazumasa Nakagawa. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, and the original author and source are credited. Adapted content must be distributed under the same license Citation:
Okazaki S, Miyashita K, Shimizu H, Nakagawa K (2026) Gait parameters, posture, and muscle activity during nordic walking and normal walking. Journal of Applied Sports Sciences 10(1): 54-63. https://doi.org/10.37393/JASS.2026.10.01.5 |  |
Nordic walking (NW), which involves walking with specially designed poles, has attracted attention as a means of enhancing physical activity across diverse populations. While NW is known to increase energy expenditure and upper limb muscle activity compared to conventional walking (W), its biomechanical characteristics—particularly those involving joint kinematics and lower limb muscle activity—have not been fully clarifi ed. The purpose of this study was to compare gait parameters, joint kinematics, and muscle activity between NW and W, and to elucidate their kinematic characteristics.
Nineteen healthy male participants (mean age: 26.3 ± 2.4 years) performed 10-m walking trials at a self-selected comfortable speed under both W and NW conditions. A 1-hour NW training session was conducted prior to testing. Gait parameters were measured using a pressure-sensitive walkway, joint kinematics were obtained using an IMU-based three-dimensional motion analysis system, and muscle activity was assessed using surface electromyography.
Compared with W, NW signifi cantly increased stride length, step length, and walking speed. In terms of joint kinematics, NW resulted in increased hip extension, knee fl exion during the stance phase, and ankle plantarfl exion, along with greater trunk and cervical rotation. Muscle activity in the posterior deltoid, erector spinae, rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, rectus femoris, and tibialis anterior was signifi cantly higher during NW, whereas no signifi cant diff erence was observed in gastrocnemius activity.
A novel aspect of this study is the integrated analysis of trunk motion, lower limb joint kinematics, gait parameters, and muscle activity. These fi ndings suggest that NW induces changes in joint kinematics through pole use, thereby infl uencing gait parameters and muscle activity. Despite limitations related to the homogeneous participant group, lack of speed control, and short experimental duration, NW may be an eff ective strategy for enhancing lower limb muscle activity and joint mobility, with potential applications in rehabilitation settings.