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Randomized trial of Nordic walking in patients with moderate to severe heart failure
Single-centre Canadian RCT in 54 adults with moderate-to-severe heart failure (mean LVEF ~27%): 12 weeks of Nordic walking matched for weekly exercise minutes to standard cardiac rehabilitation produced a larger gain in 6-minute walk distance than control rehab in abstract-reported group summaries.
Design
- Population: 54 patients (mean age ~62 y) with moderate–severe HF (mean LVEF ~27%)
- Arms: Nordic walking (n = 27) vs standard cardiac rehabilitation (n = 27)
- Dose: 200–400 min/week for 12 weeks (matched between arms)
- Primary outcome: 6-minute walk test (6MWT) distance change
Result (abstract group summaries)
Nordic walking arm showed a larger mean increase in 6MWT than standard rehab (Δ ~126 m vs ~58 m in the PubMed abstract narrative; inspect SDs/CIs in the PDF).
Evidence hygiene
Single-centre, HF-specific—excellent functional capacity anchor for pole walking, but do not merge with healthy older adult balance meta-analyses without reading inclusion criteria.
Publication
Keast ML, Slovinec D'Angelo ME, Nelson CR, et al. Can J Cardiol. 2013 Nov;29(11):1310–1315. PMID 23773895.
Outcomes
- 12-week Nordic walking vs standard cardiac rehab (matched 200–400 min/week): larger mean improvement in 6-minute walk distance with Nordic walking (~Δ 126 m vs ~58 m between-group pattern in abstract; n = 54 HF patients).