Poles and Parkinson’s: How pole walking can help you live well (and stronger) with Parkinson’s

Mandy Shintani Poling and Parkinson's

If you love walking, running, and/or hiking but are starting to worry about your balance, walking poles might be the perfect tool for you.

We recently sat down with Mandy Shintani, the co-founder of Urban Poling, to talk about the benefits of walking poles for people with Parkinson’s.

Want to Give Pole Walking a Try?

There are many places that carry poles, including REI, outdoor retailers, ski shops, and more. You can also take a look at the Activator Poles from Urban Poling here. We gave a set to one of our very best volunteers Brenda Cain, and she LOVES them. It’s truly amazing how much more mobile we’ve seen people become by simply adding poles to their daily routines.

About Mandy

Mandy Shintani - Davis Phinney FoundationMandy is an occupational therapist and the founder of Urban Poling. Her mission is to inspire active living and wellness through innovative pole designs and education. As an avid proponent of life-long fitness, Mandy has experienced how Urban Poling fuels a healthy and fun lifestyle that leads into using poles with other exhilarating activities such as snowshoeing, hiking and adventure travel. As a therapist, her design of the ACTIVATOR poles was rooted in her desire to create a tool that would revolutionize mobility and rehabilitation programs. She is considered one of the leading experts on this activity and was a finalist with the YWCA Women of Distinction in the category of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

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Comments (5)

Great interview and very helpful to me thank you. I am a Nordic Walking instructor in the UK and have well being groups, with some participants living with PD. I use the Activator poles and they are a huge success with us.

That’s great, Dawn!

Interested in learning more about poling as an activity.

I would have liked a demo…..and when Mandy discussed her design of the poles should needed one in her hand to point out the specific features….But the interview was very well done…and was just the right length(30 minutes..)

Mel..Good job !!

Very interesting and informative video. What a great idea. I facilitate a PD support group and have shared the video with all of our members. Many are former skiers and hikers, and might find poling is a natural exercise they would feel comfortable trying.

I agree with Miller. A demo with the poles would have been very helpful. Also, to better explain the potential for improving posture, pictures showing users with and without the poles would make more of an impact. Thank you for sharing this information.

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