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As you probably know by now, I recently started walking on the beach after one of my friends advised me that the sand is better for my knees than the asphalt or the concrete surfaces. I was experiencing some discomfort in my knees and sometimes my feet and ankles after my routine morning walks. My friend suggested walking on the sandy beach because, according to him, the sand acts like a shock absorber and reduces the amount of stress on the affected joints.
I’ve been walking on the beach for several weeks now and I am experiencing much less discomfort in by joints than I did while walking on the asphalt or the concrete surfaces. But as it is with everything there are likes and dislikes regarding this experience.
First let’s look at the likes:
• Less Discomfort: Quite naturally I’m happy that walking in the sand has taken away much of the discomfort when compared to the level I typically felt after walking on the other surfaces.
• Fresh Air: When compared to the park or the road, the air on the beach is 100% cleaner and more refreshing.
• Soothing Sounds of the Waves: The sound of the waves caressing the beach is oh so comforting and relaxing.
• Visits with the Birds and the Fish: The gulls and other birds come to greet you every morning and seem to want to walk with you. Even some fish and stingrays appear to swim along as you make your way from one end of the beach to the next. Interestingly, on a couple of mornings we saw sea turtles bobbing up and down as though they were saying hello.
• Friendliness: For some reason everyone just seems friendlier. They don’t hesitate to say good morning or how are you doing?
Now let’s look at my dislikes
• Soft sand: The soft sand slows my forward progress tremendously. I’d much rather walk on the more compact sand the gives you more firm footing.
• Walking at an angle: Because of the fact that the beach tapers off into the water at an angle when you walk you are always walking as if one leg is longer than the other.
• Getting wet: I usually prefer to walk on the firmer part of the beach which tends to be that part nearest to the water. This is ok as long as I keep my eyes on the waves otherwise I will get caught and splashed unceremoniously.
• Crowded: On some days, especially with school being out, it could get crowded. This sometimes makes it difficult to maneuver comfortably and could possibly result in a degraded walking session.
My transition from walking on to park to walking on the beach has been fairly smooth and truth be told, sometimes I do miss walking on the park. Nonetheless, despite some dislikes, I’m enjoying the beach experience especially knowing that I am continuing to reap the health benefits of walking without the agony of the joint pains.
Nothing like that water element and the salt sea air to energize and relax you while balancing you.
That seems like the perfect mix and it's working great for me so far. Thanks for the read and the feedback Osteosport. Cheers!
Yes I can understand that walking on the beach is least agony of joint pains. I do a lot of bush walk which is slower than walking in a park, but my problem is the down grade on hills, Oh my knees, they feel as if I am walking with splinters of glass in my knees and I have to walk down side ways, but otherwise I enjoy walking. I would like to try the beach that would be flat, but I would have to travel about 40km a day to get to one. Never mind good article, thanks for sharing.
Forty km seems a bit much Elsie so you may need to stick to your bush walks. I did a lot of that growing up so I know what it is like. But regardless of where it is, the beach, the park or the bush, the important thing is to get some physical activity as you go about your daily routine. Many thanks for the read Elsie. It's so good hearing from you again. Cheers!
It takes a bit of getting use to Anna, but as you said in the end the benefits are great. Do you get to walk on the beach often?
Those would probably be my dislikes too. lol. Keep up the exercise and maybe take a park walk on the more crowded days at the beach. Nice article keep writing.
Hey, thanks for the advice Robert. Will actually try that sometime although I may not run into the problem of crowd for a while given that school is back in session. I just have to worry about the public holidays now.
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