Older Hikers Benefit from Added Strength and Flexibility

Bruce Trail Magazine

The difference between hiking and walking is perhaps never so pronounced as it is when the person on foot is middle-aged or older.

When you're young, you barely notice the difference in grade as the trail goes uphill or downhill. You climb over rocks and dodge around fallen trees without having to closely watch where you put your feet down. And when the hike is over, you feel no different than you would after a simple stroll around the block.

The reality is that most Bruce Trail enthusiasts have left those days behind - approximately 75 per cent of the association's 8,000 members are between the ages of 45 and 65. And many Bruce Trail Association members are still happily hiking when their 65th birthdays are a distant memory. This is good news, because it demonstrates that hiking, while no doubt easier for youthful muscles and joints, certainly isn't confined to the young.

There's ample evidence that regular exercise, particularly that which builds strength, cardiovascular fitness and flexibility, is linked with the prevention or improvement of such conditions as depression, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and more. Each of these conditions is also linked with aging, so it's easy to see why the World Health Organization and other health authorities are strongly promoting physically active lifestyles for older people.

Let's look at the goals of endurance, strength and flexibility, and see how hiking stacks up as an activity for older adults.

Health Canada's Physical Activity Guide recommends that all adults, regardless of age, should get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder, on most or all days of the week. This type of activity builds endurance, which means you have more stamina for all the things you do in your life. Hiking is ideal for this, since the uneven terrain and hills either gentle or steep involved in the average hike will indeed get the heart beating faster.

Keeping muscles strong is essential as our bodies age. Studies show that the main reason older people are weaker is not because muscles magically shrink after a certain age, but because people stop doing the activities that use those muscles.

As with so many other things in life, maintaining muscle strength is definitely a case of 'use it or lose it.' The good news is that older muscles weakened from a lack of use can be re-built through exercise. Once again, hiking comes up tops for building or maintaining muscle strength, particularly in the legs and hips.

Strong muscles are important for any age group, but for adults on the plus side of age 65, muscle strength helps decrease the likelihood of falls. Many people aren't aware that falls are a leading cause of death in the elderly. The way to prevent falls isn't to stop exercising, but rather to remain active, so that you maintain balance, and are both strong and limber enough to prevent yourself from toppling over. All the more reason for older people to hit the hiking trail!

Speaking of being limber, flexibility is the third goal of regular fitness. And for older adults, flexibility is critical. It's no secret that our bodies naturally get more 'stiff' as we get older. For the 45-plus crowd, it takes more time and effort to maintain a supple, limber body but the results are definitely worth it. Flexibility helps in virtually every activity you can think of, from leaning over to tie your shoe to reaching up to the top cupboard in your kitchen. Hiking helps flexibility because of the uneven terrain and the need to vary your steps, or even climb, at times, to accommodate the trail.

Strength, cardiovascular fitness and flexibility are key components of health and vitality at any age. The secret to staying active as you age is to do what you love, and Bruce Trail enthusiasts know that there's no drudgery associated with exercising when you're enjoying a beautiful woodland trail.

Laurie McLaughlin is owner/director of ProActive Physiotherapy ( Hamilton ) and ProActive Therapeutics ( Oakville ).