A Tale of two sticks: walking towards restoration

Abstract

Most studies conducted on Nordic Walking have addressed bio-medical questions, such as recovery from injuries or medical interventions and its therapeutic value for various health conditions. However, the psychological outcomes of this activity remain so far greatly under-researched, along with its implications for research in leisure and recovery literature. In this paper we present a prestestposttest study assessing the affective restoration achieved by the participants of two different walks along two urban settings varying in naturalness. Participants filled in a questionnaire comprising of a set of psychological scales measuring affective states and restoration outcomes. Pretest-posttest score comparisons revealed that participants experienced immediate psychological improvements, due to the reduction of negative affect indicators and the increase of positive ones. Implications for future research on Nordic Walking and psychological restoration are discussed.