Walk your way to a healthy life

Walking is ‘go-to’ prescription advised by knee and joint surgeons for people who have weak joints

Hyderabad: As a form of physical exercise to attain fitness, walking quite often gets underrated when compared to other forms like hard strength and muscle exercises in gyms or running that involves repetitive movements and engaging more muscle groups of the human body.

Walking, however, could be an exercise of choice for many people who are simply not into long-distance running or pumping iron in gyms. In fact, walking is often a ‘go-to’ prescription that is advised by knee and joint surgeons in Hyderabad for people who have weak joints and are prime candidates of arthritis.

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“Low impact exercises that bear less stress on weight-bearing joints in hips, knees and feet are ideal for a majority of the population. A daily dose of walking will not only help in keeping the body weight under control but will also relieve the pain, stiffness, swelling and even strengthens joints,” says Senior orthopaedic and Joint Replacement Surgeon, Yashoda Hospitals, Dr Sunil Dachepalli.

Among all forms of walking, long-walks serve as a bonding experience and can strengthen one’s relationship. Taking the ‘long walks’ concept to another level are Hyderabad couple, Tarandeep and Simran Singh, who had recently completed Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge that involved participants having the option to walk 100 km, 50 km or 25 kilometres in 10 days.

“I have never been into running or participating in such an event,” shares Simran, who is pursuing a postgraduate course in Homoeopathy. “Before we got married, Tarandeep told me that he is an avid runner and has taken part in several events. I was very motivated by that and decided to be a part of this challenge.”

An IT professional, Tarandeep has participated in Oxfam walkathon-Bengaluru, in 2018. Talking about his journey, Tarandeep says, “I have been athletically inclined for years now. I have successfully completed several marathons and 21k runs conducted in Hyderabad and other cities. Since you have to practice regularly to participate in these events, I believe this is the best way to stay fit. The life that many of us lead — especially during the pandemic — is not very healthy. So, such activities help me live a healthy life.”

Among the many groups that are dedicated to walking in Hyderabad, the Public Gardens Walkers Association (PGWA) stands out. Since 1995, the PGWA has organised more than 400 health talks that revolve around fitness, lifestyle and walking. There are anywhere between 4,000 and 4, 500 regular walkers who frequent Public Gardens, Nampally during morning and evening to pursue walking and stay fit. “The pandemic had impacted many of our health talks and walks. However, things are getting back to normalcy in the past few months. There are more than 4,000 dedicated walkers who frequent Public Gardens to walk and stay healthy,” says senior advocate and chairman of PGWA, Ghulam Yazdani.

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